Spyro: black september
by TMHB77
Summary: spyro gets sent to the human realms, but on his way back, one is accidentally taken with him. now they both must team up with spyros friends to take on the evil that threatens both realms. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1 The Perilous Portal

**Dont own spyro or the other characters. duh.**

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO: BLACK SEPTEMBER**

CHAPTER 1-THE PERILOUS PORTAL

In the realm of the dragons, the easiest way to travel between realms is through portals, they could take you anywhere you desired, so long as that realm had a portal. Spyro, a curious and sometimes reckless young dragon who already made a name for himself, having saved the dragon realms many times over. He had used the portals to complete the various quests the elders seemed to love sending him on. 'why do I have to go and save stuff from evil when all they do is sit in the dojo and wait for me to get back?' spyro thought as he aimlessly wandered down to dragon village. He then spotted ember on his way in to town.

"Hi spyro!" she said smiling

"Hey ember." he said, much less cheer in his voice than normal.

"What's wrong?" she asked

"I keep wondering why the elders send me on random quests while all they do is sit around while I risk my neck." he responded.

"Don't let that get you down spyro, come on, my dad just got 3 fresh sheep and I know my family can't eat it all." she said, trying to cheer him up.

He normally would jump on the chance for free food, especially if he didn't have to kill it, but in a very un-spyro fashion, he declined. "Maybe for dinner." he said as he walked on, alone in his thoughts, he knew he liked her, but just as a friend, he still had no desire for a mate as he was still too young to feel that way about females.

His wandering soon brought him to the professor's lab.

"Spyro! How good to see you!" the mole said as he approached. "Have a look at my latest invention,

It's an inter-realm portal activator or IRPA as I like to call it."

"Looks cool professor, what's it do?" asked spyro as he examined the circular machine with many

multicolored wires leading from it.

"It allows travel to worlds using a temporary portal created by the vortex generator."

"So how is it different from the other portals?"

"Glad you asked! It can create portals to worlds that have none!" said the prof. barely containing

his excitement.

"Does it work?" spyro asked

"I don't know, I haven't met anyone brave enough to test it." his happiness fading slightly.

"I'll test it professor." spyro said. The elders warned him about careless portal travel,

But after all he has done for them; he thought he deserved to make his own decisions. He was, after all, the savior of the realms and the scourge of all evil.

"Really!?" the professor shouted, his happiness now at its peak.

"Ok just stand here while I activate it."

The machine made a loud humming noise as it came to life, and a portal materialized before Spyros very eyes.

"Now lets pick a realm, ill try to pick the safest realm incase you encounter any native life."

'Nice' spyro thought sarcastically.

"Hmmmm...ah here we are! Realm X34J!"

The computer screen displayed its info.

Planet-earth

Category-terrestrial

Stars-1

Moons-1

Dominate species-Human

"Ahh, humans have no claws, wings or bodily weapons of any kind, they are harmless." explained the professor.

"Well then I guess I'm ready." spyro said, still nervous about testing an untested experiment.

The last time he tested the professor's experiments, he lost all feeling in his upper body for 3 days.

"Ok spyro, go ahead, and step in."

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Trust me" said the professor

'Famous last words' thought spyro. As he entered the portal and disappeared. It was only then that the prof. scrolled down the display to reveal a box of script flashing:

WARNING, HUMANS HAVE NO PHYSICAL DEFENCE, BUT HAVE THE ABILITY TO BUILD AND DESIGN ALMOST ANYTHING. POSSES MANY WEAPONS AND CONSTANTLY GO TO WAR WITH ONE ANOTHER. THEIR MOST DESTRUCTIVE WEAPON IS HYDROGEN FUSION BOMBS. THE MOST POWERFUL NATIONS COULD DESTROY THE PLANET WITH THEM 3 TIMES OVER. TRAVEL RATING- EXTREME DANGER, AVOID IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.

"Oh dear, the elders aren't going to like this." the prof. said as he left his lab to tell the elders about his little 'experiment'.

Spyro felt as though he was flying at the speed of light, through a multi-colored tunnel that seemed infinite, but at last, he saw a light, and was thrown through it. He hit the ground with a thud and blacked out.

As dawn broke on earth, a 17 year old boy, named Austin, awoke from his slumber. He stumbled out of bed, got dressed, grabbed his SKS,(chinese made assualt weapon similar in appearence to an ak47) and set out into the 80 acre woodland surrounding his house.

He walked down a trail he had walked many times before, but this time would be different.

He approached his favorite spot in the forest to relax, but saw a blinding flash followed by a purple blur. His curiosity got the better of him and he went to see what apparently had fallen from the sky.

As he looked into the bushes he couldn't believe his eyes.

"A dragon?" he said to himself, staring at it in disbelief.

R&R'S PLEEZ


	2. Chapter 2 An Akward Introduction

CHAPTER 2- AN AKWARD INTRODUCTION

As Austin stared in disbelief, he said to himself

"This is by a wide margin, the least likely thing I thought would happen today."

'A dragon falling out of nowhere' he thought, 'definitely on my top 10 random events list.'

As the small purple dragon began to stir, Austin jumped back with his SKS drawn off his back and pointed it at spyro. As he awoke spyro said

"aww my head, what happened?"

Austin was completely surprised by this and said still in disbelief

"You can talk?"

Spyro quickly turned and saw the human, and growled

"yea, who are you?"

'I've got to be dreaming' Austin thought.

"Austin, who and what are you?" he asked, gun still drawn in Spyros direction

"I'm spyro, defender of the dragon realms, and scourge of evil." Spyro said rather proudly.

Upon hearing this, Austin couldn't help but lower his weapon and laugh.

"How is that funny?" Spyro asked, slight anger in his voice.

"I thought dragons were supposed to be huge, flying, fire breathing killers."

"I'm only 14, dragons don't grow until they are at least 16, and my wings are still too small to fly, but I can breath fire." Spyro said as he let smoke out of his nostrils for dramatic effect.

"So if you don't mind, can you tell me how you magically fell from the sky?"

"Sorry, I can't even remember." replied Spyro.

"Well where are you from?" Austin asked, his gun now completely restored to its traveling position on his back

"I'm an artisan dragon from avalar."

"Oh"

'no idea what any of that means' Austin thought.

"Where do you live?" Spyro asked

"Just down this trail, you can live with me, unless you just like it outside..."

"I'll go with you." he answered as the young man and dragon set off to his house.

"So how big is your cave?" Spyro asked

"Humans don't live in caves Spyro; they live in houses, mainly."

"What's a house?"

"I'll show you when we get there." as they walked, Spyro examined his new human friend more closely,

'no scales, no fur, no tail or physical defense of any kind, how are these creatures the dominate species? Are there no other fierce animals on this planet?' he thought to himself.

When they reached his house, Spyro stopped in awe.

"Did you build this?" he asked in disbelief.

"Not me, I paid people to do it."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know how to build a house." Austin said, patiently answering the young dragon's flurry of questions.

"Oh, but what does 'paid' mean?" Spyro asked

"To give someone something in exchange for a service or item."

'Straight out of the economics book' Austin thought to himself as they entered the house.

"Don't mind Jack, he doesn't bite."

The dog was slightly bigger than Spyro, and it began to growl at him, and Spyro growled back

"Back off dog!" Spyro hissed, his small fangs now barred.

"Jack no!" and with that, the dog stopped growling and lay down in the corner.

"He can't talk back Spyro; humans are the only things that can speak on this planet."

"oh." he said almost sounding disappointed

Austin then turned on the T.V.

"What is that thing?" Spyro asked as he cautiously approached it, sniffing the air around it and touching it.

"It's called a television or TV; people broadcast signals to it, which is what's on the screen."

"Oh" 'that made no sense' Spyro thought

"You can pick what you want to see with this" as he tossed Spyro the remote.

"Just push the up and down buttons to change the channel."

As Austin searched for something to eat, Spyro had stopped on the history channel.

"Who is this 'Hitler' guy?" Spyro asked.

"He was an evil man who threw my whole world into war in 1938. He was beaten, but not before he killed 6 million innocent people."

It took Spyro a moment to register such a number.

"Six...million?" he said hesitantly

"Why?"

"Because he didn't like them."

Austin's blunt answer was quite shocking to Spyro

"How can someone kill that many people just because he doesn't like them?"

"That's the million dollar question Spyro." Austin said with an air of sadness in his voice.

"Humans are naturally aggressive, some just more than others, but most humans have evolved enough to control their hardwired instincts."

Spyro took a moment and thought about how there weren't even 6 million dragons in all the realms and how any being could take

6 million lives without remorse. The very idea made him shutter.

"So what do dragons eat?" Austin asked, changing the subject as he saw Spyro's expression.

"Usually sheep." Spyro said

"Hmmm... I'm fresh out of sheep, looks like we're going shopping. Now how am I gonna pass you off as a human?"

"Why can't I just go like I am?" he asked.

"Most people believe dragons are myths, and seeing a real one may attract unwanted attention."

"Ok, but why do you put cloth on yourself?" asked Spyro "to keep warm but mainly because human society doesn't really sanction public nudity." Austin explained

"Now I'm gonna need to find you some clothes."

As he dug through his closet he found some of the clothes from when he was Spyros size and they fit...kind of

"Hmmm. everything looks good but your tail is a dead giveaway, try tucking it along one of your back legs.

Not perfect but it'll work, and if anyone asks, you have a skin condition."

Spyro, now standing upright, with a black hooded sweater, with the hood up, sunglasses, and blue jeans. He was about 4 inches shorter than Austin

When he stood on his hind legs, Austin was only 5'11.

As they walked to his truck, spyro stopped.

"What is this?"

"It's called a truck, its gonna take us to food."

Spyro jumped in the cab, no further explanation needed.

On the drive into town, Spyro saw the tall buildings and stared in awe

"Did humans build these too?"

"Humans built everything you see that isn't trees."

Spyro was amazed at the tall buildings, and when they arrived at the grocery store, Spyro gasped as they entered "what's this

place called? It reminds me of a library, but with food... is this a food library?"

Austin laughed, "No, it's called a grocery store. It's where humans go and buy food."

"You mean you don't hunt for it?"

"Some still do, but I don't normally."

Once they were done shopping for mainly lamb, they headed back to Austin's house.

"How old are you?" asked Spyro

"17" Austin answered

"What year is it?"

"It's the year of our lord 2007." Austin said jokingly

"Who's your lord?"

"Some people believe that there is an almighty, all powerful, all knowing super being that created all that exists." Austin said

"Do you believe that?" Spyro asked.

"I don't know what to believe anymore, nothing has proved to me that one exists, but yesterday I didn't believe that purple dragons could fall from the sky and talk either. So right now, anything is possible."

When they got back to the house, they sat down to eat.

Spyro ate all he could and then remembered a previous appointment he had made.

"Oh damn, I forgot about ember!"

"Ember? That sounds like a girl dragons name if I ever heard one, which I haven't. Who's the lucky lady?"

Realizing he said to much he retracted his words.

"She's nobody." He quickly recovered

"So she is a girl. You can tell me about her cause I'm sure don't know her."

"Well…. Ok. She looks like me except she is pink and her eyes… are… I can't describe them."

"You like her?"

"Yea."

"As a friend? Or more than that?"

Spyro never thought of her like that before, but maybe he was right, he did get a strange feeling in his chest when he saw her.

But before Spyro could answer, he heard a whistling noise.

"What's that noi-"

"SPYRO GET DOWN!" Austin yelled as he ducked under the heavy table.

A mortar round landed right next to the house, detonating with a deafening boom.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Spyro yelled, his ears still ringing loudly.

"I'LL EXPLAIN LATER! FOLLOW ME!"

They darted out of the demolished door as Austin grabbed his weapon and quickly departed as they heard the sound of approaching forces.

Spyro and Austin fled into the woods, finally coming to a clearing and stopped to rest.

"Does everything in this realm explode whenever it wants to?"

"No, but that was no random blast. That was black September. And

Before you ask, black September is a dangerously powerful underground militant cult. And 'surprise' they choose to attack on the 1st of September." Austin explained

"Why are they trying to kill you?"

"Because according to their 'prophecy' a male of 17 will rise up and destroy them and topple their evil empire, he will be a descendant of the line of Octavious, the Spartan warrior who led his group of 300 men against 10,000 armies of the Persian empire for 3 weeks before being killed. I did my research and I'm his great, great, great, great, great grandson."

"I know how you feel. In my realm, a prophecy foretold of my destiny, and my enemies are always trying to hurt my friends or Me." Spyro said.

"Why is that wooden and metal thing so important?" spyro asked, examining the rifle.

"It's called an assault rifle, its how humans settle their differences."

"Speaking of your realm, how do you plan to get back?" Austin asked

"I dunno, the professor sent me here and the portal closed behind me, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to stay open."

"There he is! The prophet! Kill him!"

Austin whipped around and saw two black September soldiers right behind them, their camo uniform and large black "S" emblazoned on the front, their helmet, gas mask combination hid their faces.

He quickly drew his weapon and put two rounds into the first ones chest and one in the second ones head, before their weapons were even drawn.

"We can't stay here Spyro, I know of a safe house where we can stay for tonight."

They walked through the dark woods until a small cave appeared in the distance.

"This is more my style." Spyro said with a grin

The pair entered the cave and slept safely until morning.

Spyro was awoken by the bright sunlight entering the mouth of the cave.

Spyro yawned as he went to the cave entrance to find Austin.

"Austin where are you?"

"Over here." He said, perched on top of the cave, sharpening a 10 inch knife before putting it back into its sheath.

"Sleep well?" he asked as he jumped down to his level.

"Yea. Where are your parents?"

Austin's expression saddened as he said, "They were killed by black September when I was 15, but not before my father taught me all he knew about survival, combat and warfare. He was part of an elite group of warriors known as the scarecrows. They were the most feared warriors in all the world and he taught me everything I know. Now it's up to me to destroy black September, just as the prophecy predicts."

"Standard evil fighting huh?" Spyro said. "Yup" he answered.

'I hope the professor found a way to open the portal again' he thought to himself. Little did he know, that's exactly what he was doing.


	3. Chapter 3 A Cold Reception

CHAPTER 3-A COLD RECEPTION

"Ignitus! Ignitus! We have a serious problem!"

"Calm down professor, what's wrong?"

"Its Spyro, he tested my new invention and disappeared!"

"What new invention?" Terrador asked

"The one that allows me to send him to worlds not connected with the mainstream portal networks."

"Those worlds were disconnected for a reason!" Ignitus yelled

"Which realm did you send him to?!"

"Umm… I believe it was called realm X34J."

"WHAT?!" they yelled in unison.

"Take us to your lab immediately!" Said Voltier

When they arrived at his lab he turned on a plethora of monitors, which flickered to life.

"According to this, he isn't far from where he entered, but he appears to be with a human.

And they are being surrounded by more of them."

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"Uh oh, I think we've got company." Austin said as three black September soldiers approached from the north and south.

"I'll take these three." Spyro growled

"I got the rest." Austin said, drawing his blade

Spyro then attacked, impaling his first attacker, then jumping off him and flaming the other two. Spyro turned to watch Austin's attack, wondering what exactly his father had taught him.

The 3 soldiers began firing at him, but miraculously he dodged them all with a speed Spyro had never seen before, except when his friend Hunter ran as fast as he could.

He was so fast Spyro almost lost track of him as he slashed and stabbed his way through the attackers and as quickly as it started, the black September soldiers collapsed into a bloody heap.

Austin flicked his wrist, cleaning his blade and putting it back in its sheath.

"Well that was fun." Spyro said with a grin, "most I've had in a while."

Austin then saw spyro for what he was, not just a strange looking dragon from a distant world, but a fellow freedom fighter, a brother in arms, a comrade in the fight against evil.

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"Hmmmm, apparently Spyro and the human are working together. All the attackers' life signatures have dropped off the radar." Said the professor.

"Can you get him out?" asked Cyril

"I think so, just let me get a lock on his coordinates……got it! Activate the portal!"

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"Well now whe-" Spyro was cut off as the portal he recognized from the lab appeared out of nowhere, and they both got sucked inside.

'not this again' Spyro thought as he and Austin were thrown through the portal at the speed of light, ending the same way as last time, with a quick stop.

Austin came to and slowly opened his eyes

"What the hell, where am I?"

As his eyes focused he realized he was in what appeared to be a hospital wing, but one thing struck him as odd, there were four large dragons standing over his bed.

Thinking quickly he tried to reach for his 9mm, except he was strapped to the bed frame.

"Typical human, reaching for a weapon as soon as he sees something unfamiliar." Terrador mused.

"Where the hell am I and why am I strapped to this bed?!" he yelled

"The dragon realms, have you come to chase us out of here too?"

"What are you talking about? Where's Spyro?"

Upon hearing his name, Spyro entered the room.

"Hey! Why is he strapped down like that?" asked Spyro

"Because he is an irrational, dangerous killing machine!" growled Ignitus

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Austin said with an air of arrogance in his words.

"He's not evil, he was being chased by the crazy humans, he isn't one of them, now untie him!" Spyro shouted

As they began to untie him the elders questioned him.

"If you weren't here to exterminate, why were these found on you?" Voltier asked, pointing to a table where his 9mm, and combat knife lay.

"Your portal sucked me in with Spyro.

Dragons are myths in my 'realm', what did you mean by 'chase you out of here'?"

"All dragons used to live in your realm, peacefully with nature, but your kind advanced on our territory, and we were forced to fight for survival. Humans were no match for us alone, but together and armed with advanced weapons; we began to take heavy losses, so we left that realm, and closed the portal behind us, hoping to never be followed."

"And yet, here I am, but you can't hate me for something my ancestors did, humans have evolved since the middle ages. I have nothing against dragons and have no intentions of hurting anyone…except Black September. They've probably taken over the whole planet by now…" Austin moaned, his head in his hands.

"Who is this 'black September'?" asked Cyril

"A radical cult that has been trying to kill me since I was born because their 'prophecy' says that I will be the end of them all."

The professor entered the room and said "the portal is busted and will take weeks to repair, it wasn't meant to transport two life forms at once. The capacitor is completely blown."

As Austin grabbed his weapons off the table, they left the dojo and entered a world whose beauty was unlike anything Austin had ever seen.

"You live here?"

"Sure do, it's my home sweet home."

"It's beautiful…"

"c'mon, I got friends I'd like you to meet."

"Sounds good."

They walked to the dragon village, where all the dragons stopped what they were doing and stared.

Many whispers flooded between the stunned dragons in the square,

"What is that?" "Did Spyro capture that thing?" "Where are its scales and horns mommy?"

Finally, Hunter Bianca Ember and Flame came into view, playing in a field.

When they saw Spyro, they ran to him, and stopped.

"Who is that?" Ember asked, she was exactly as spyro described her, pink scales and eyes like sapphires.

"My name is Austin, I'm a human. And you must be Ember, Spyro has told me about you."

She blushed as she looked at Spyro, who did the same.

"I met him when the professor sent me to his realm, but took him back with me by mistake."

"Well if you're a friend of Spyro's, you're cool with us." Hunter said

"This is my girlfriend Bianca, and this is Flame." Pointing to the rabbit on his left and the red dragon on his right.

After the introductions they began to do what they always did on those lazy summer days, hide and seek.

Hunter was 'it' and was counting by the tree marked as base.

"98…99…100 here I come!" he shouted as he moved further away from base, Spyro darted out of a nearby bush, along with Ember and Bianca.

Try as he might, he was too far away to catch them before they tagged base.

As Hunter was distracted, Flame also made a break for it. Luck was on his side, he made it.

"Looks like it's just you and me Austin."

Realizing he was right, Austin stood up from the boulder he was hiding behind.

Hunter was the quickest cheetah he knew of, and was confident he could catch him.

"He's doomed. Nobody can outrun Hunter." Flame said

Spyro responded "I don't know… Austin is pretty quick."

And with that, Austin took off, Hunter in hot pursuit.

"You're goin down!" Hunter said as he gained on him.

"I don't think so buddy." He said as he unleashed a burst of speed, leaving Hunter in the dust, tagging the tree.

"Whoa!" Ember, Flame, and Bianca said in unison.

"No ones ever beat me before…" Hunter said, still in shock.

"That was incredible! How did you do that?" asked Ember

"Years of practice" he said, gasping for air.

It was at that moment, a large green, ogre-looking monster came charging out of the woods, with a large jagged sword in hand.

"What the hell is that?!" yelled Austin.

As the group turned around, it was already right on top of them.

Without hesitation, Austin drew his 9mm and put a bullet in its head, causing brain matter to cover the group.

"EEEWWW! This is so gross!" Ember said, trying to shake off the blood.

"Two questions…what was that, and should I have shot it?"

"A gnorc, and yes." Flame said as he shook the brain and bone off his scales.

"Sorry bout the mess." He said as he holstered his weapon

"What is that thing? It was so loud." Bianca asked

"It's a weapon from my realm, I won't use it any more, and I'm running out of ammo."

"Thanks, I'd like to keep my hearing as long as possible." Spyro said as they walked toward dragon village.

While they walked, it was Austin's turn to question Spyro about his world.

"So does everything here talk?"

"Most everything."

"So I'm going to assume you live in a cave. Yes? No?"

"Yes, and you can stay there with me, since I stayed at your 'house' with you."

"Sounds good."

He looked at Bianca and Hunter and asked

"So Spyro and I'm guessing Flame, breath fire. What do you guys do?"

"Hunter is the best shot with a bow and arrow in all the realms. I know a good bit of magic me." Bianca explained

"Cool." They arrived at the edge of town and stopped at Embers house.

"See ya later guys, my parents want me home early today, they want me to clean the cave." She said sadly

"Bye Ember" Spyro said as she hugged him, for an almost awkwardly long time.

She released him then hugged Flame and went inside.

They walked Bianca to her house and hunter went in for dinner with her.

Then they came upon Flames house, and he bid them goodbye and went inside as the sun began to set. Then it was just spyro and Austin.

"I think she likes you." Austin said as they continued to walk

"I don't know…"

"She clearly does! She hugged you for at least 5 seconds. A 'just friends' hug is only 1 or 2 seconds, but that was way more than 2 seconds."

"I like her as a friend, but I don't know about a mate."

"One day you'll see Ember as just a friend. Then the next, you may see her as not just a friend, but a girl. I'd go so far as to say…a girlfriend."

"No way…I don't like Ember like that."

"Ok…just give it time."

"Besides…I think Flame likes her too."

"Uh oh…you have to be careful there Spyro. I've seen a girl come between two friends and tear them apart. You should just let her decide, and don't hold a grudge against her choice, let her make it."

"Thanks…I'll think about that."

"Let me simplify it for ya. There is a saying back on earth that may help. 'bro's before ho's.'"

"What?"

"Friends before girl's Spyro."

"Still not following."

"Just let your heart decide weather or not she is the one for you spyro. Forget everything I said and listen to your heart. It won't steer you wrong, most of the time."

"Ok…"Spyro said when the cave came into view.

They went in and Spyro lit a fire in the middle of the cave floor.

The two talked about random stuff, but their conversation eventually drifted back to Ember.

"I don't want Ember to come between Flame and me, but I don't see how she could choose and not hurt one of us."

"She's probably thinking the same thing."

"Yea…this is probably way harder on her than on us."

"It's getting late Spyro, I'm going to sleep, we can talk about this later. Night."

"Night." Spyro said as he blew out the fire and slept on his bed of soft leaves. A few days passed without incident, except the tension between Flame, Spyro and Ember was growing with each passing day.


	4. Chapter 4 September Rising

**here we go with chapter 4! beware, a curveball in the developing love triangle awaits! **

CHAPTER 4- SEPTEMBER RISING

One morning the sun arose and Spyro found Austin already up, standing outside in the sun, with a flat black panel on the ground absorbing the sunlight, with wires leading from it, into his arm.

"What is that?"

"Solar panel, its charging my integrated bionics."

"And in normal language…that means?"

"My mom was a bioengineer, she fitted me with oxygen dilators in my legs, which make me faster than a normal human, which is why I outran Hunter yesterday, and muscular amplifiers that steady my hands while aiming, and give me a strength boost. Plus I have nanobots in my bloodstream, which heals me five times faster than normal. Sorry I didn't mention that before, but I've had it for so long, I forgot about it even existing."

"Oh…anyways Ember wants us to meet her in the meadow."

"Lets go, I'm done charging anyway."

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Meanwhile, back at the cave on earth where spyro and Austin were last seen, the area was covered in black September forces, wearing biohazard suits and holding Geiger counters, sweeping the area.

"What are your readings Jenkins?" captain Serevus' voice came over the radio in the biosuit.

"I'm reading mid to high range alpha and beta particles around this area."

"Get an air sample and send it back here."

"Yes sir."

Jenkins got the sample and walked back to the captain's tent.

"Here is the sample sir."

"Well done, now continue sweeping the area for more evidence of where he went."

"Yes sir!"

Jenkins left the tent and captain serevus turned on a holoscreen.

"General Crozier, is the planet under our control yet?"

"Patience Serevus, it will all be ours in due time. Only Western Europe is resisting our dominance, but reinforcements are on their way now. They will soon fall. What of the portal jump?"

"We have high and mid level beta and alpha particles in the area. He isn't on this planet anymore. But I believe we can isolate the particles and reopen the portal, and find wherever he went."

"Excellent. Get to work immediately; I want to kill him before he does any more damage. Do not fail me again captain. Remember the fate of the ones before you who failed. "

"Yes general." Severus said as he grimaced, they still hadn't found all the pieces of his predecessors.

The screen went dark and turned off. Serevus turned to his squad leader and handed him the sample.

"Get this to the lab, general Crozier wants it analyzed as soon as possible!"

"Yes sir" the squad leader said as he departed in a hummer.

Captain Serevus walked out of his tent and into the medical tent where a soldier had been stabbed, and was barely alive.

"What's his condition?"

"He's still critical, but I don't recommend interrogation until he is stable." The medic stated.

"I don't care; I need to know what or who else was with him." Serevus said as his ripped back the curtain and began questioning the dying soldier.

"Who did this?"

"The…prophet…and…a…purple…dragon…"

"A purple dragon? Dragons don't exist, what pain pills did you give him?"

"We haven't given him any yet, we were about to when you arrived."

"Where did the prophet go?"

"A flash of light…then…they were both…gone…"

He began to go into shock and the machines he was hooked up to started beeping and alarms began sounding as the doctors sprang into action to save him.

Captain Serevus left the tent and looked up to the sky and said

"I'll find you boy. You won't escape twice."

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They arrived at the meadow where Ember said to meet and saw her sitting by the tree they had played near yesterday.

"We're here, what's going on Ember?" Flame asked

"Well… I need to talk to Austin, in private."

"Then why did you call us here?" asked Spyro

"Because he will tell you what I want him to, but mainly because I need an unbiased third party to help me choose between you and Flame."

Austin put his hand over his face and muttered

"Oh Jesus, this isn't gonna end well."

"I'm taking Austin back to my house to decide and I'll be back in one hour."

"Bye guys." She said as she hugged them both for equal amounts of time and departed with Austin in tow.

"Flame…no matter who she picks, I want us to still be friends."

"Me too, I don't think it will effect us too bad."

They both knew that if she picked the other, the one rejected would be devastated.

Ember and Austin didn't speak the whole way back to her house, the silence was unnerving to Austin, as he knew he would have to give romantic advice to a girl he had just met about two friends he had just made.

When they arrived, Ember introduced him to her parents and went up to her room.

"So…Ember…how can I help you decide between Spyro and Flame?"

"First, I'm gonna tell you what I like about each of them."

"Ok…go ahead."

"Well…Spyro is a realm wide hero, he has saved our lives…a lot, and his body is so…ripped!"

"Yea the ladies love a rock hard bod, and being famous helps."

"Flame is always there when I need him, he's never off gallivanting around the realms, and he just seems...I don't know…more in touch with his feelings than Spyro.

"Ok…those are all good reasons to like someone, but what are the things you don't like?"

"Well, Spyros constant saving of the realms sometimes goes to his head, and he just seems like he has a tough guy mask on all the time… like he's afraid to show his feelings."

"He has to be that way Ember, apparently he had a lot to deal with when he was very young, and I'm no expert, but he probably thinks that showing emotion is a sign of weakness. At least…I did. And given time, he'll come around to his feelings, because that's what I had to do."

"Thanks Austin…I hadn't considered the toll all his heroics take on him mentally…"

"What about Flame?"

"well…Flame isn't as fit as Spyro…but I can't count how many times I cried on his shoulder while Spyro was away on a quest or something, but…I think sometimes Flame is overly sensitive…and sometimes I just…need a real male."  
"harsh… but Flame one of Spyros best friends, and being that, he was probably always in Spyros shadow, which is probably why he is the emotional opposite of Spyro, trying to break free from his shadow. Again, my dad was the leader of the best fighting force in the world, and everyone always referred to me as 'my dad's son' and not my name. Which is why I came out the way I did."

"Ugh…this isn't helping! This is just reminding me why the choice is so difficult!"

Austin put a hand on embers scaly shoulder.

"Take your time Ember, picking someone to spend forever with shouldn't be rushed."

She looked up at him and their eyes met.

He had seen that look in many human girls' eyes before; he guessed it was the same no matter what species you were.

'Oh no…please don't do what you're thinking about doing-' before he could even finish the thought Ember jumped on him and laid one right on his lips.

She weighed considerably more than he did so it took him a few seconds for his bionics to push her off. As he did, she blushed more than he had ever seen anyone blush before.

"Whoa! Ember you're a nice girl…but we aren't even the same species." He gasped

"Oh god Austin I don't know what came over me…I'm so sorry…this Spyro and Flame thing is just so overwhelming…you must think I'm a whore…"

"Of course not Ember! It's not going to be easy…and you don't have to pick now…Spyro said he wasn't even old enough for a mate yet, and neither is Flame."

"They may not be, but females reach 'that stage' earlier than males, and I think I'm there already."

"I don't know anything about dragon anatomy, but their interest in you will grow one day, seemingly out of nowhere. That's when their ready for a mate, but that's how it works for humans, I don't know about dragons."

"Ok…I guess we should go back and get Flame and Spyro."

"Yea it's been more than an hour."

"Ummm…about what happened earlier…can we keep that our little secret?"

"Good idea."

They walked back to the meadow and met Flame and Spyro, still waiting patently under the tree they had left them under.

"Well…who's it gonna be?" Spyro asked…a clear nervousness in his young voice

"I…I…still don't know…"

"What? How can you not decide? Clearly I'm the most suitable mate! I'm a hero for god's sake!"

"Hey! What happened to 'no matter who she picks, I still want to be friends'? You two timing liar!"

"Do you want to go right now dough boy?!" Spyro growled

"You're just jealous because I've always been there for her while you were off on some pointless mission for the elders!"

"I RISKED MY LIFE ON THOSE 'POINTLESS' MISSIONS!"

"YOU THINK YOU'RE GODS GIFT TO FEMALES JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A HERO!"

"I'VE DONE MORE IN MY 14 YEARS OF BEING ALIVE THAN YOU WILL IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE!"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!?" Ember yelled at the top of her lungs.

"I CANT BELIEVE YOU TWO! FLAME, STOP BEING SUCH A WIMP AND SPYRO, STOP BEING SUCH A DICK!"

All were shocked by Embers outburst, but she had more to say.

"I CANT BELIEVE YOU TWO ARE ALL I HAVE TO PICK FROM! I'VE GOT HALF A MIND TO DO WHAT HUNTER DID AND DATE AUSTIN, A DIFFERENT SPECIES!"

"Whoa don't bring me into this…hey hunter never dated me!"

"I SHOULD JUST LEAVE AVALAR AND FIND SOME NEW MALES TO MATE WITH!"

And with that, she ran off crying, toward her house.

Then it was Flame and Spyro, staring each other down, with Austin wondering how to diffuse the situation.

"Remember what I told you Spyro?"

"About what?" he said, not taking his eyes off Flame.

"About how girls can tear a lifelong friendship apart? Ring any bells?"

Spyros clenched fists loosened, and he broke his glare at Flame.

"Your right…I was so worried that she wasn't going to pick me that…I just let my instincts take over."

"I'm sorry Flame." Spyro looked up, but Flame was gone.

"You see where he went?"

"No I was looking at you." no sooner were the words out of Austin's mouth, when he spotted a red blur, what he assumed was Flame, tackle Spyro from behind, taking him to the ground, sliding to a halt.

"Flame what the he-"Flame began swinging his arms wildly at Spyros head as he pinned him down with his greater weight.

Spyro dodged most of Flames erratic punches, but one got lucky and glanced his snout, enraging him.

"You son of a…" Spyro socked Flame right in the jaw, knocking him out from on top of him, and onto the ground. He felt a warm liquid on his muzzle; he reached up to wipe it off. He was bleeding.

"You made me bleed you bastard!"

"Guess you're not the invincible hero everyone thinks you are." Flame said as he wiped the blood from his lip.

They got ready for round two, when a loud, familiar bang was heard.

"Freeze! Both of you!" Austin said as he lowered his 9mm from over his head, and at the two dragons.

"You guys are friends! You can't let a fight over a girl destroy something that took years to build!"

The two dragons were still breathing heavily and their fists were still clenched, but Austin's words soon sank in, and their hormonal rage began to ebb away.

He lowered his pistol to his side, and gave them a 'do-you-have-any-idea-how-retarted-you-guys-are-for-fighting-about-a-choice-you-have-no-control-over?' look. If there ever was one.

"I'm sorry Spyro…I don't know what came over me."

"Its ok…I do let saving the world go to my head sometimes."

There was a pause as Austin holstered his weapon.

"Well now that we're all friends again, I think you guys should give Ember some space, if female dragons are anything like female humans, she'll cool off eventually."

There was a long pause after his words, finally broken by Flame.

"What do we do now? Ember is upset and Hunter and Bianca are in dragon shores."

"Well…I guess we could see if the professor fixed the portal yet." Spyro suggested

They agreed and set off toward the lab, talking about…well guy stuff. Who's the hottest female in the realm, where to find the best sheep. (both was mostly Spyro and Flame).

"Well, here we are. Look familiar?" Spyro asked

"Nope, I was unconscious after I was thrown out of that portal."

"Right."

They went into the lab and found the professor waist deep in wires.

"Uhh…professor? We aren't interrupting are we?" Flame asked

"No, not at all! I'm afraid the capacitor is fixed, but I tried a test run, and the vortex generator is out of teranium 238 crystals. And I have no time to get any more from the mines in dragon shores."

"I can see where this is going…" Spyro sighed

"Good, then I won't have to explain it." The prof. said cynically

The professor got up and walked past Austin with a strange looking device, and as he passed, it went off wildly. The prof. stopped and began waving it over him.

"Professor, dinner usually comes before strange objects get waved around."

The device continued to beep, prompting the professor to ask

"Austin, you are human aren't you?"

"Well…I am, but I'm infused with bionic technology my mother created, but never finished. I'm smarter, faster, and stronger than the average human."

"I have experience in biotechnology, if you bring me back enough crystals, I'll upgrade all your systems and maybe give you some new toys."

"SWEET! What're we waiting for!?"

He grabbed both Flame and Spyro's arm in a death grip of bionic strength and pulled them out of the lab.

Austin dashed all the way to the portal to dragon shores, which was strange considering the fact that he had never been to it before.

When they stepped through the portal, Austin marveled at the beauty of the beach.

"This is the most awesome beach I have ever seen! Look at those waves! Perfect beach break! If only I had my board…"

"We can relax later; we need to get those crystals back to the professor."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"General Crozier, the test results on the particle samples are ready." Captain Severus reported after stepping through the door and saluting the general.

"Excellent. What do they indicate?" general Crozier asked

"They indicate that the prophet has gone to a different reality, a 'realm' if you will. The scientists have also isolated the particles and with enough power, we can reopen the portal, and go in after him."

"How much power is required?"

"We would need about the equivalent of a large sized nuclear power plant."

"And where do you propose we get one of those?"

"With all due respect sir, I think we can just siphon off power from all the power plants in North America and still have enough power for the cities."

"Very well, just make sure you do it quickly, we're running out of time. The prophet must be killed before he fulfills the prophecy."

"Thank you sir."

"Dismissed."

With that, Severus took his leave and headed back to the lab where an experimental portal generator had been set up, wires leading to it from all directions and it was surrounded by armed guards and scientists.

Severus entered the decontamination chamber and was sprayed with high strength cleanser. After he entered the lab he began to question the scientist in charge.

"What's the delay?"

"We are just now siphoning off power from all the major American cities. Ok we're ready to go."

He gave the signal, and the scientist at that control panel began pressing buttons and turning knobs at a blistering pace.

The generator began to hum, and then the room began to shake.

"Energy levels normal." The man at the panel said

"Ok, increase power."

"Increasing power."

The humming became louder and the shaking became more violent.

"Energy levels rising, but still safe."

"Inject the plasma."

"Injecting plasma."

The white hot plasma was injected into the center of the metal ring, forming a ball and slowly rotating into a thin disk stretching the length of the machine. The room began to shake as if it were an earthquake.

"Energy levels are rising, approaching critical."

"Keep it open…we need to test its stability."

The guards dragged a crash test dummy with a chain around its waist to the portal threshold and pushed it in.

"Power levels are critical sir! The portal's going to implode! We need to shut it down sir!"

Sparks began to fly out of the machine and the plasma field began to ripple and shake. The guards pulled the dummy out of the portal to find the remains of it burned to a cinder.

The light around the machine began to bend as the portal began to collapse in on itself.

The portal collapsed with a loud sucking sound and hot plasma spewed from the center, burning everything it touched. It coated the guards and a few scientists, burning them alive.

The room stopped shaking, the machine fell silent, and the power went out, and then came back on.

"What was the meaning of the power outage?" general Crozier had appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"General Crozier! What a…pleasant surprise." The chief scientist said nervously

General Crozier looked at the damaged portal, then at the burnt, lifeless bodies of the guards and scientists. Then he glared at the chief scientist

"I gave you millions to find a way to chase the prophet down and all you do is kill guards? Unacceptable."

"Please sir…we just need more time-"

"No. we need a new chief scientist." General Crozier's black, full length robe was long enough to conceal his hands and feet, and the hood always covered his head. In fact, no one had ever seen him without it. And lived to tell about it anyway.

He raised his cloaked arm and a long metal blade shot out of the dark sleeve and into the scientists gut, splattering the general and Serevus with blood.

The scientist made a gagging, gargling sound as blood trickled out of his mouth and nose. Crozier's blade was then electrified, making the scientist twitch as he raised him up off the ground. He then took the other hand and cut off his head. He picked it up and stuck it on a jagged piece of metal.

"This is a warning. If anyone else fails, this will be their fate. Understood?"

"Yes Sir!!"

General Crozier departed the lab and left captain Serevus with the bloody and broken lab and the shocked scientists.

"Clean this up and get back to work!"

The scientist at the panel approached him.

"Sir…I believe I've found the problem with the portal. We need to acquire a very rare element in a very rare form. We need teranium 238 crystals."

"Right, I'll get the word to the mines. Congratulations on the promotion by the way."

"Promotion to what sir?"

"chief scientist."

Captain Serevus left the lab went back to the communications room.

"I'm closing in prophet. You can't hide forever."

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	5. Chapter 5 An Evil Alliance

**dont own spyro or any other characters you've heard of b4**

CHAPTER 5- AN EVIL ALLIANCE

The two dragons and the human walked along the beach, unsure of exactly where the mine was located.

"It probably would've been a good idea to ask the Professor for directions." Austin said

"Really? You think?" Spyro said sarcastically

"Sorry guys. My biotech is so old; I couldn't wait to get an upgrade."

They walked farther along the beach until finally they came upon a trail through deep woods with an old wooden sign with the words 'mine' written with and arrow following the trail.

"I knew we didn't need directions."

"Sure. Let's get in there and get those crystals." Flame said as they walked into the thick woods.

They walked for what seemed like miles of twisting trail, running into a few gnorcs, but nothing they couldn't take care of easily. Soon a cave mouth appeared in a clearing, and they entered.

"Ok…it's really dark…thank god for night vision implants."

Austin's eyes glowed a soft green while he walked. Spyro and Flames eyes were already adapted to darkness, like all dragons, they can see in the dark as easily as in the day.

"How do we know what the crystals look like?" Austin asked

"That sounds like something we should have asked the professor _before_ we left." Spyro responded

"Ok I get it. I ran off without thinking. Besides, I think I remember what it looks like from my chemistry class in high school."

They went through the cave searching for the elusive element until they came upon a carved entrance into what appeared to be some kind of ancient temple.

"This looks interesting." Spyro mused

Mine cart tracks they were following lead straight into the temple.

"Guess this is where the crystals are. Let's go."

They walked through the temple corridors, observing the scratched walls where crystals had been mined.

"I don't see any teranium, this place is mined clean."

They came upon a large central room with ornate columns and paintings of epic battles on the walls. In the center of the room, there was a single pedestal. On it was a small dragon statue made entirely out of teranium.

"I'm pretty sure this is teranium." Austin said as he approached the figure.

"Good. Lets get it and get out of here, this place is creepy." Flame said.

Austin grabbed the statue off the pedestal, and the room began to shake.

"What's happening!?"

"I don't know!"

Debris began to fall from the ceiling and the columns collapsed domino style.

The pedestal sank into the floor and a large door opened behind it. Everyone's eyes widened as a large stone golem stepped out of the door; it was at least 15 feet tall.

"HOLY SHIT!" Austin yelled

"I think its time to get out of here!!" Spyro shouted

They ran out of the room and down the long corridors, followed by the golem, thrashing and destroying the temple as he went.

'Why didn't I see this coming? I've seen Indiana Jones a million times!' Austin thought as he ran.

"There's the exit!" Flame yelled as rocks began to fall around them.

"Damnit! The cave is collapsing!" shouted Spyro, dodging the rocks as they fell.

The stalagmites (or is it stalactites? Whichever is on the roof.) Fell as they dodged them narrowly, but one cut Austin's arm, leaving a large gash on his arm.

All three leapt out of the cave and into the setting sunlight as the rocks closed the cave entrance permanently, with the golem inside.

"The…professor…better…give…me…wings…for…this…" Austin gasped as he collapsed on the ground. He looked at the large bleeding cut on his arm and watched as the nanobots reconnected the blood vessels, veins and muscles before his eyes.

"Technology rules…"

"Glad…that's…over…" Flame said catching his breath, he was last out.

"I say we…just rest…here…for a while…" Spyro said as he too, collapsed onto the ground. They all passed out for a few hours, awaking to darkness.

"What a nice nap." Austin yawned as Spyro and Flame awoke beside him.

"I don't feel like going back to avalar yet…I got an idea! Let's go see Hunter and Bianca!"

"I like it. Good one flame. Spyro, you up for it?"

"Yea let's go!"

They walked out of the dense jungle and onto the moonlit beach.

Austin spotted a chicken pecking at sand.

"Hey! A chicken! You guys ever eat chicken before?"

"No…sheep is all we ever eat."

"Seriously? Come on guys! Live a little for once." Austin said as he drew his pistol and took aim.

He shot and it fell to the ground, Austin picked it up.

"So who's gonna help me out with some fire?" Flame stepped forward, but no sooner had he done that, then what was apparently the chicks mother appeared out of the jungle behind Austin's back. It approached him and stopped.

"Uhh…Austin…" Flame stammered

He slowly turned around and saw a 15 foot tall chicken standing behind him, it roared and blew the chicken right out of Austin's grip.

'What are the odds that i would get sucked through a portal where everything that can kill me is also delicious?' he though as he took off down the beach with the others.

"Why is it you never tell me about giant monsters until after they are trying to kill us?!"

"You never ask!" Spyro yelled back

Austin pointed his gun over his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Nothing, it was jammed.

"Now we have problems!"

"No we don't!" Spyro said as he turned and faced their pursuer.

Spyro jumped at the chicken and hooked a claw in the corner of its mouth as he shot by, bringing its neck with him, twisting it 180 degrees with a resounding crack.

"See? No problem."

"Nicely done sir! That was cool." Austin said

"Let's go find Hunter and Bianca." Flame said as he led the way.

They walked until they came to a cabin on the beach, with light in only one window.

"Guess this is the place."

They walked outside the cabin and to a window.

"It's too high for us to look in, Austin, give me a boost and I'll see if their home."

Spyro stood on Austin's shoulders and peered into the window. There was Hunter and Bianca in an…intimate position to say the least.

"Aaahhhhh! My eyes!" Spyro fell off Austin and knocked Flame over as well.

"What the hell? Were they in there?" Austin asked

"Oh yea. Could've done without that image."

The door opened and Hunter appeared.

"Uhh…hi guys…what brings you here so unexpectedly?" he asked, not sure how much they had seen.

"What were you two up to?" Flame asked

"Nothing! Just…reading…"

"That's not what I saw." Spyro whispered to himself

"What?"

"Nothing! I didn't say anything!" Spyro quickly answered

"You guys should come in, it's getting cold."

They went inside and settled in for the night.

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"Captain! We need you in the lab immediately!"

He left his office and followed the guard down to the lab.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Captain, we have a powerful player from the realm the prophet escaped to in the lab."

"What? How did he get here?"

"He created his own portal and appeared in our lab out of nowhere. He killed a few guards before he told us why he was here."

They walked passed dozens of blast doors and fluorescently lit hallways until they came upon lab 2-A.

They stepped over the dead guards and approached the creature in a full length robe, staff in hand.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Who I am isn't important. What is important is that you kill who you want killed, and I get who I want killed. I know of your prophet. The one called, Austin. Correct?"

"How did you know about him?"

"I see much that is hidden. If you help me kill spyro, I'll help you kill Austin."

"Who is Spyro?"

"He is one purple dragon born in 1000 generations. The two of them have been around each other and are apparently friends. It wouldn't be hard with our combined might, but alone, we wouldn't stand a chance against him and his friends."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't know. All you can do is take my word. After all, if I didn't want your help, why would I have come here?"

"I see…well what should I call you?"

"Refer to me as simply 'the Sorcerer'."

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The sun rose the next morning on dragon shores, shining in the windows, waking Spyro, Flame, and Austin at the same time.

"What time is it?" Flame asked sleepily.

"Time for breakfast." Bianca said standing in the kitchen, finishing what was a mountain of food on the table. They all sat down and inhaled the food before them.

"You know…one of the joys of eating, is actually tasting it." Bianca said as they finished off what they took.

"You wouldn't believe what happened to us before we got here." Austin said as he leaned back in his chair.

Hunter came out of the bedroom and sat down.

"You look tired. Up late?" Spyro said with a slight smile

"no." Hunter shot a 'shut-up-now!' look at spyro.

"So what happened to you guys?" Bianca asked as she cleared the table

They recounted their story, from the professor's lab to the golem to the giant chicken.

"Wow. I'd be starving too."

"Well all that is behind us now, because we got what the professor was looking for." Austin pulled the teranium dragon out of his pocket and put it on the table

"Wow." They said in unison

"I never saw it in the light till now."

"We'd better be going, hope we didn't interrupt your vacation." Spyro said

"Not at all! We'll be back in avalar soon." Bianca said.

"You two be _safe_." Spyro said as he looked at hunter and smirked.

"Goodbye Spyro." He said as he closed the door behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"General Crozier. We have a new ally in our mission to find the prophet."

"I felt his presence when he arrived. The Sorcerer will be a very valuable friend. Do everything he says, and give him whatever he needs."

"Yes sir. I'll find out his needs now."

"Wait. I will do it. Monitor the communications link, the resistance movement is becoming a greater threat since our takeover than I anticipated. If you get any useful leads, kill as many of them as you can."

"Yes general." Serevus left the generals chamber and proceeded to the comm. Room. On his way he passed lab 2-A and noticed that the general was already in the lab talking with the Sorcerer.

'How does he do that?' he thought as he walked.

'Damned resistance…since when is it my job to deal with these pests?'

"General Crozier, I've heard much about you." the Sorcerer said calmly

"Sorcerer, serevus tells me that you can aid us in our quest to destroy the prophet. Is this true?"

"Indeed, I can aid you, so long as you help me with one of my problems."

"And that would be?"

The Sorcerer tapped his staff on the ground and a 3-D hologram of Spyro appeared in the center of the room.

"This is what I want dead. And this is what you want dead, correct?" an image of Austin appeared beside Spyro.

"Yes. We need him eliminated as soon as possible. How do you plan on getting to them?"

"Easy, Spyro is romantically attracted to this dragon." An image of Ember was shown in the room.

"If you can capture this one, Spyro will come, and most assuredly, Austin will try to aid him. I can create a portal that will allow a few of your men into the realm to capture her. But it can only hold about 10, so send your best."

"Agreed."

"I will return with information on where to find her soon. Be ready when I return."

The Sorcerer opened a portal to avalar and it closed behind him.

"General, do you really trust that guy?"

The General grabbed the guard by the neck and lifted him to eye level. (Crozier is about 7 ft tall)

"Is it your place to question my decision (looks at number on uniform) 216?"

"No…sir…" the 216 choked

He released him and he coughed on the ground for a while.

"Get a hunting party ready. I want only the best. Understand?"

"Yes sir!"

**the next chapter may take a little longer than normal, cuz...i still have 2 write it. usually i have the next chapter already done, but not this time. i've caught up with myself! r&r**


	6. Chapter 6 New Toys, Old Enemies

CHAPTER 6-NEW TOYS, OLD ENEMIES

"This upgrade is gonna be awesome! It's been sooo long!" Austin said as the three walked back along the beach they traveled down to the mine.

"Where is the portal? It didn't seem like it took this long last time." Flame complained

"Finally! There it is."

"About time." Spyro said, walking through it with the others.

"Let's get this thing to the professor."

They arrived at the lab to find the professor tinkering with some kind of mechanical device at his desk.

"Professor, we got the teranium. Check it out." Austin tossed the dragon figure to him.

"Excellent! This is 238 alright. Now time for me to hold up my end of the bargain."

He grabbed a small black square with two metal prongs sticking out of one end off the table and walked over to Austin.

"So where is the anesthesia?" Austin asked as he removed his shirt and lay down on the operating table. The prof. stood over him, as did spyro and flame in lab coats and surgical masks.

"Here it is." Spyro showed him the small black object.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's a tazer."

Spyro looked at the professor and he nodded.

"Yea…it is." Spyro said smiling slightly

"Ready?" flame asked

"I guess…but how will a tazer put me asleep?"

"It will temporarily override your autosonomic impulses given off by your bionics, which will let me…sorry us, upgrade you without you feeling a thing."

"Well let's do this…juice me."

Spyro put the two prongs on Austin's chest and pressed the red button on the top. He flinched, and then lay motionless on the table.

"Flame keep an eye on his vitals while we do this ok?"

"Got it."

"Well then, let's get started."

Spyro handed the mole a scalpel and he made the first incision into his chest.

The upgrade took hours on end to complete, even with the extra help of spyro and flame. The operating room was filled with all kinds of wires leading from Austin to various machines and computers in the room.

While Austin slept, he had a very…peculiar dream. He saw general Crozier, and Captain Severus standing at the mouth of a portal with ten of the biggest black September soldiers he had ever seen. They were standing with another creature, in a full length robe and what he assumed was some kind of staff or magic wand.

"You know what you are looking for, correct?" the General asked

"YES SIR! A PINK DRAGON WITH PURPLE EYES!"

"And what else?"

"A PURPLE DRAGON WITH GOLD HORNS AND THE PROPHET!"

"Excellent. The pink dragon is the primary objective. The others are secondary. If you get the opportunity, take them out. Clear?

"YES GENERAL!"

"Good, now take these weapons with you sorcerer, they will be of great use to you in conquering the dragon realms. No matter how thick the scales, they wont stop a bullet."

"Good. Your aid is appreciated. Now we will take our leave. When we return…we will have a pink prisoner." They stepped into the portal and a blinding white flash ended the dream.

He slowly opened his eyes and focused on the purple and red blurs before him.

"Nice of you to join us." The red shape said

"Yea you were asleep for hours." The other blur said.

"Austin, try to focus your vision on spyro." Austin recognized that voice as the professors.

His vision recovered and he looked at spyro. He saw a gold line trace Spyros outline and text appear describing him

TYPE- LIVING ORGANISM

BLOOD-COLD

NAME-SPYRO

SPECIES-DRAGON

ORIGIN-AVALAR, DRAGON REALMS

DATE 1ST ENCOUNTERED- SEPTEMBER 1ST 2007 8:24 A.M.

MATES-NONE KNOWN

OFFSPRING-NONE KNOWN

ABILITIES-FLYING, FIRE BREATH, UNUSUALLY STRONG FOR AGE.

KNOWLEDGE- LEGENDARY HERO OF AVALAR. SAVED REALM MANY TIMES. LIKES SHEEP. SKILLED FIGHTER. ONE OF ONLY 10 EVER BORN THAT WAS PURPLE IN COLOR.

TERMINATE?

"Its asking if I want to terminate spyro. How do I say no?"

"Just think it. Depending on your answer, you will take no action, or your weapons systems will activate themselves."

"Cool! I got Spyros life story here! Did you say weapons systems?" he looked at flame and the professor and the same kind of info displayed itself.

"Will I see all this stuff every time I look at somebody?"

"Only if you are seeing them for the first time."

"What about the 'knowledge' section? How do I know all that?"

"It recalls things that you may have forgotten that is stored in your mind. I was worried the neurological implants wouldn't work, but they have adapted nicely."

"Cool, what else can I do?"

"Think of the word, 'infrared'." Flame said

"Ok…"as soon as he did, he blinked and he saw the heat signatures of the professor, flame and spyro.

"AWESOME! You guys have no idea how cool this looks."

"Glad you like it, but there is much more than that."

"This is like Christmas…what else?"

"Stand up." Spyro said

"In addition to replacing the nanobots in your blood with more efficient ones, all your bionics are now powered by your heartbeat. No more solar charging needed."

Austin stood up and noticed his right arm bandaged up.

"What's with my arm?"

"You won't need your knife anymore." Spyro said grinning

"Why…?"

The professor unwrapped the bandage and asked

"Can you feel all your fingers?"

"Yea…why wouldn't I?"

"Well, while we were operating, I hit an artery and we had to amputate your arm to stop the bleeding. We replaced it with a robotic one. It is made of a titanium composite material I invented, making it lighter, and stronger than your real arm. Also, if clench your fist twice…well just see for yourself."

He did and a steel blade shot out of his arm, just below his wrist it was 10 inches long, just like his old knife, in fact, it was the blade from his old knife.

"Professor…you made my physical being more lethal. You are my new best friend!

Besides you two." He said seeing spyro and flames expressions. The blade retracted back along his arm and the professor continued.

"There is one last thing…I attached a thin but strong membrane to your back that is wired along your spine and connects to the synapses in your brain."

"Which means?"

"Which means I have given you pectoral muscle amplifiers ten times the strength than that of the others in your body."

"Why?"

"Because you're normal muscles aren't nearly strong enough to power your wings."

Austin eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.

"My…whats?"

There was a long pause before flame broke it

"I don't see any wings professor, when did you give him those?"

"While you two were taking a nap after I told you I was almost done. It's still experimental, and I wanted to see if it worked. Plus he needs a way to get around now that you two are learning to fly."

"Thanks…I think." Austin said as he reached behind him to feel his wings

"I don't feel any wings professor."

"That's the beauty of the membrane, while not in use, it remains flat and matched your skin tone, but when you activate them, they form up into wings. All you have to do is clear your mind, and picture yourself with them, the loose particles attach to each other, making a lightweight, rigid and durable structure."

He did so and felt the wings begin to rise from his back, forming into wings similar to Spyros and flames.

"THIS IS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE COOLEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME!"

"To retract them, just imagine yourself without them."

He did and they formed back to the contours of his back.

"Oh yea, almost forgot, your robotic arm also has this experimental plasma cannon technology."

"Please tell me it shoots something."

"Sure does, just curl your hand into a fist, and bend it down, and then the cannon should come right out."

Austin bent his fist down at the wrist and a panel slid back on his forearm, revealing a sleek, chrome pod with a barrel at one end.

"I was going to destroy this old robot today, but you can practice your shots on it."

"Nice! Stand back."

Austin's saw crosshairs appear over the target and moved around it until it locked on the robots chest plate.

TERMINATE?

"OH YEA!"

The cannon hummed and small static electricity bolts jumped from the chrome pod and the end of the barrel glowed bright neon blue.

"Here goes." He fired a single ball of super heated energy at the target and disintegrated it, leaving only a pile of molten metal.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!! THIS IS SO FREAKIN SWEET!" Austin yelled as he pumped his fist into the air, accidentally firing another blast through the professor's roof.

"Whoops…sorry professor." The cannon retracted back into his arm and the four of them walked outside.

"You are going to need to learn to fly on those wings, flame, can you and spyro show him how?"

"We can try…but we're still new at it ourselves."

"That's ok; just make sure he can get around."

The professor went back inside and left the three of them to their lesson. It took a few hours, and bruises, but eventually Austin could keep up with the two dragons as if he had been taught at birth.

Then Austin remembered the vision he had on the operating table and spoke up.

"Hey either of you guys seen ember since we got back?"

"No…I thought she would at least come by and say hello, but I guess she's still mad…" flame said as they flew toward the center of town.

"You guys should go to her house and apologize, you don't want to let a girl's anger brood like that, she'll make you regret it."

They changed course and headed toward embers house. When they arrived, they learned that Ember had told her parents that her and her friend Snowflake had gone on a walk through the dense forest. She told her parents she would be back before sunset. The sun was sinking fast and her parents were worried.

Spyro and the others agreed to try and find her before dark by flying over the forest to look for her.  
"EMBER!"

"EEEEMMMMBBBBEEERRR!"

"This is hopeless! We can't search all these woods in a few hours." Spyro said.

'I hope what I saw on the table was just a dream, and not a premonition.' Austin thought as he flew. He then heard something that made his heart drop to his stomach. He heard the distant sound of automatic weapons.

"No…you've got to be kidding…"

"Did you hear that?" Flame asked

"Yea I did. Ember is in trouble. Follow the sound!"

The three flew as fast as they could toward the sounds until they came to a clearing where they saw Ember and Snowflake, fighting gnorc after gnorc. But something was different about these gnorcs. They had new weapons…human weapons.

The three of them went into a steep dive, Spyro and Flames claws at the ready, and Austin's blade deployed. Austin came down right on top of an attacking gnorc, ramming his blade through the top of its skull and coming out of its chin as blood stained the chrome weapon.

Spyro went straight for the neck of one of them, ripping out veins, muscle and its windpipe, nearly taking its head off.

Flame caught two of the gnorcs in the chest with his claws, crushing their sternums into their hearts, turning them into paste. They cried in pain as they feel to the ground, slowly dying.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Austin asked

"I don't know! We were walking and they came out of nowhere!"

At that moment, the gnorcs retreated and ten of the tallest, strongest looking humans came out of the dense woods. One of them held a strange looking gun, like nothing Austin had ever seen before, it was mostly chrome, but some parts of it had a purple glow about them.

"Is that the prophet?"

"I don't know, hit him with the E.M.P. anyway"

A burst of purple energy shot out of the weapon, Austin sidestepped it and drew his pistol, firing two shots into one of the soldier's heads, dropping him instantly.

Another blast from the E.M.P. gun hit its mark, sending him tumbling backwards and into a tree.

"Uuuuhhhhhhh…what…the …"

His vision was going crazy, his infrared blinking on and off, and info was flashing randomly before his eyes. His muscles were frozen.

"Grab the pink one."

"Yes sir!"

Three soldiers approached a tired Ember, who had been shot in the leg by a stray bullet. She tried to resist but the soldiers fired tranquilizer darts into her, knocking her out cold.

Spyro and Flame attacked the remaining soldiers, killing two, but not before they received their share of tranquilizer darts. Flame tried to continue fighting, but the drugs they put in him where overpowering his balance, making him fall to the ground.

"No…Ember…I'll…find…you…" these words escaped before he fell into a deep, drug induced coma.

It took more darts to bring down Spyro, he slashed one of them across the face, leaving a huge gash and ripping out his eye.

He soon felt his body was too heavy to hold up and he fell over unconscious.

A few hours passed before Austin opened his eyes and tried to focus on the words he saw.

MAIN POWER ROUTE INTERRUPTED. TROUBLESHOOT? Y/N?

'Yes' he thought. New text appeared

ALTERNATE ROUTE FOUND. PROCEED? Y/N?

'Yes'

DAMAGE-0

SYSTEM EFFICIENCY PERCENTAGE-

WEAPONS-100

FLIGHT-100

VITALS-100

NERVOUS SYSTEM-100

FULLY RECOVERED.

ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL.

REBOOT? Y/N?

'No'

With that, his vision returned to normal, and he got up off the ground and noticed that Ember was gone.

"Damnit…they got her…those bastards…"

Spyro awoke from his drug induced stupor, and came to the same conclusion, as did Flame.

"Why…WHY DID THEY TAKE HER?!" Spyro yelled

"I don't know…but they had guns, and that can only mean that someone from this realm is on the same side as black September."

The bushes behind Flame moved and Austin aimed his plasma cannon at it.

"Wait! Don't shoot me! I was with ember!"

A white female dragon with silver horns and eyes came out of her hiding place and approached them.

"Who are you?" Austin asked lowering his arm.

"My name is Snowflake, but you can call me snow."

"Ok snow…where were you when all this started?"

"I was with Ember when they came out of the woods. One must have hit me on the head because that's all I remember until I woke up behind that bush."

"Did you see where they took her?" Spyro asked

"Nope…I was out cold. I hope she's ok…I could've helped her…"

"What do we do now?" Flame asked

"We need to tell the elders about this…they might know what to do." Spyro said spreading his wings.

"I'm coming with you."

"What? You'd only slow us down." Spyro said in a slightly angry tone.

"No I won't! I feel terrible about what happened and I'm not gonna let a few monsters steal my best friend!"

"Suit yourself, just don't fall behind."

They flew toward the temple and found the elders in the central chamber.

"We've got trouble. A band of gnorcs and humans have kidnapped Ember." Flame's words caused all others to cease.

"What? Humans here? I knew that leaving that one alive would be a bad idea!" Terrador growled.

"If you want to correct your mistake, come and try!" Austin hissed.

"STOP! Fighting among ourselves isn't going to get us anywhere. Spyro, Flame, Austin, you must go and find her. She is still in the realms, that much I can sense. But she may not be for much longer. Who is this?" Ignitus asked

"My name is Snowflake; I'm going with them to find my friend."

'And also because Flame is the hottest dragon I've ever seen!' she thought to herself, softly biting her bottom lip as she glanced at him.

"You must hurry, and unfortunately, whoever is behind this has control of the dreadwing population. Their numbers have increased ten fold. The skies are very unsafe, stick to the ground."

"Fine, well we need to rest, we'll leave at dawn, they wont be to far ahead, because those humans don't fly."

They walked back to their respective caves and got ready for the journey ahead.

Spyro and Austin were both in his cave, but only Austin slept.

Spyro went for a walk outside, the moon was as bright as the sun, lighting his way.

He came upon a pond, its crystal clear water reflecting the full moon.

Spyro waded into the pond until he was about chest high in the water. He lay on his back and floated in the water, lost in his own thoughts.

'Why Ember? Its Austin they're after…' he thought

'This is my chance…I can prove myself to be the best mate for Ember if I can rescue her'

He felt something tug on his tail, he opened his eyes to look around, but saw no one.

He played it off as a fish or something and closed his eyes again.

This time, something pulled on his tail so hard, it felt like it was going to rip off. Whatever had him pulled him under water, deeper and deeper, until the moonlight was blocked by murky water. He tried to escape his attackers grasp, but his fire was useless as was his wings, and he slowly drifted into darkness.

He awoke in a strange place, some kind of underwater cave. He then felt that his limbs were restricted, and they were, chained to boulders.

Four humans in black September uniforms stepped out from the shadows with ak-47's pointed to his face.

He tried to say something, but they had put a muzzle over his snout. They thought of everything.

Another figure stepped out of the shadows; it was in a full length robe, hiding all its features.

"You are Spyro, are you not?"

"Mmphmmmphm"

"Take the muzzle off."

The guard removed it and Spyro said

"Yea I am. Who the hell are you?"

"I am General Crozier. I know what…no…who you want. You want the one called…Ember?"

"YOU TOOK HER DIDN'T YOU?!" Spyro tried to flame the general, but he merely held out his hand, and caught the fireball, throwing it into the whirlpool behind him.

"394, teach him not to try that again."

The guard stepped up to Spyro and hit him repeatedly with the butt of his rifle, causing his blood to stain the cave floor.

The general threw a small metal square on the floor of the cave, and a video feed of Ember was projected in the middle of the cave, she was blindfolded and bound in a dark room with a gun to her head.

"Ember! Where…is she?! If you hurt her…I swear…I'll kill you!!!"

"You want to keep her alive? Then you will wear this."

A guard held out his hand, in it was a scale the same color as Spyros, but it had small metal bits sticking out from the underside, and it had tiny, almost microscopic hologram projector on the top.

"What…is…that?" Spyro gasped

"It's a communicator. It has a direct link to me. If you want to see your precious ember again, you will give me information on the prophet's location and activities."

"You…want…me…to…spy on…him?"

"Exactly. If you stop giving us information, or give us false leads, we will kill Ember, and feed her body to wolves."

"You sick son of a bitch."

"So…do you want to see her again?" he hesitated, but reluctantly answered

"Yes…"

"Good…put the device on him"

A soldier walked up to Spyro and grabbed his right arm. Holding it tightly, he took pliers and latched on to one of his scales, and slowly ripped it off, causing Spyro to cry out in pain. Then he placed the device in the bloody spot where the scale had been ripped off and it attached itself, looking like every other scale on his arm.

"I suggest you don't let the prophet know you're our informant…the last time we sent a mole in to gather intelligence on him; he sent us his head in a box. His parents are dead because of an informant of ours. We still don't know what he did with him. It is safe to say that he would kill any spy on the spot."

He unchained Spyro, knowing he was too weak to fight back, and carried him to the whirlpool.

"Think about this offer…if we don't get what we want, Ember is gone forever."

He dropped Spyro into the whirlpool and in his weakened state, he let the current take him where it wanted. He woke with a start on the shore of the pond as the sun rose.

'Did that really happen?' he thought as he examined his arm. He looked closely at a sore spot, and saw the communicator. His heart sank; he knew if he wanted to keep Ember safe, he would have to betray his friends.

He lay on his back and stared at the morning sky, feeling the cuts on him from the brutal assault.

"This…can't be happening."

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**so now austin has wings. a stretch? maybe. but now he can keep up with the rest of the dragons! the professor sure knows his human anatomy...anyways he's still a human, he's just got cool stuff on him. doesnt every story need a cyborg? probably not. oh well! what will spyro choose...his friends or ember?  
r&r's if you've got nuthin else to do!**


	7. Chapter 7 Traitor In Thier Midst

**ch 7. will spyro betray his friends for love? read it and find out!**

CHAPTER 7- TRAITOR IN THEIR MIDST

"Either of you seen spyro?" flame asked as he met Austin and snow on the outskirts of town.

"I don't know. I woke up and he was gone. I thought he was out getting food or something."

Spyro came walking out of the woods, bruised and cut up. He had tried to wash the blood off in the water, but the wounds were still pretty obvious.

"What happened to you?" Austin asked grabbing the various supplies and putting them in his pockets.

"Nothing…a gnorc caught me off guard last night while I was out…no big deal."

They departed into the thick woods and walked for half a mile before Austin asked

"Wait…how do we know where they took ember?"

"The only villain that controls gnorcs and dreadwings is the sorcerer. I know where his fortress is, I've kicked his butt before."

"Then he's helping black September."

They walked for a few more miles before stopping for rest and lunch.

Spyro tried to sneak off without the others noticing, but snow spotted him.

"Where ya going spyro?"

"Nowhere…uhh gotta go take a leak…"

"Ooooo…k…."

Spyro went into the woods until he was sure he was out of earshot of the others.

"How is this supposed to work?" he said to himself trying to figure out how to turn the communicator on.

Suddenly a holoscreen appeared a few inches above Spyros arm with the same hooded figure that he met the night before.

"I knew you would see it my way. What do you know?"

"I swear I'll kill you for this."

"Tell me what I want to know or…well you know."

"Here are our coordinates, we will be moving along this route."

He traced the route with his claw against the holoscreen map.

"Good. That's all we need for now. Report back at sunset. I'll be waiting."

The holoscreen disappeared and he walked back to the rest of the group.

"You were gone for a while. You get lost?" Austin asked, picking up the supplies and getting ready for more walking.

"No, let's just go."

They continued down a seemingly random path as spyro led the way.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to walking after flying!" Austin said as he cut a path through the dense jungle with his arm blade.

"Why are we walking in zig zags?" snow asked

"To throw off anyone trying to follow us. Plus it makes us harder to ambush."

They continued for a few hours until late in the afternoon

"There is a clearing ahead where we can stop for the night." Spyro said

They came upon a thick row of bushes which formed a crescent around them.

'May the ancestors forgive me' spyro thought as he took another step forward and 10 gnorcs popped out of the dense shrubs, with guns drawn.

They began firing at them but luckily, gnorcs were terrible shots due to the fact that the weapons they wielded were designed for humans, and they were way bigger than even the largest human.

They dove for cover as Austin laid down suppressive fire with his plasma cannon while flame and snow advanced on the attackers. Spyro just stayed behind a large fallen tree. He couldn't bear to see one of them die because of his spying.

Flame and snow took out 7 of the gnorcs and Austin killed the last 3, collecting their ammo for later use. Austin noticed spyro still behind the tree and ran to him, assuming he'd been shot.

"Spyro! Are you ok? Where are you hit?"

"Nowhere…I'm fine…"

"Why didn't you help us?" snow asked innocently

Spyro glared at her but then broke it and said

"I…they…I got surprised…I'll help next time…I just needed rest…"

"We should probably set up camp for the night; we can keep going in the morning."

They gathered around a fire spyro lit and watched it burn. They all talked around the bonfire, telling stories about past experiences, jokes and horror stories. All of them except spyro, who just sat their, staring into the fire, lost in his own head.

'I cant do this…its not worth it…no…it is worth it…I have to see Ember again…if she gets hurt I'll never get over it…besides…they weren't even hurt…but what if the next attack is worse? Damn that Crozier…'

"Spyro? You in there?" flame asked, lying down by the fire, about to fall asleep.

"Huh? Oh…sorry…you guys goin to bed?"

"Yea, it's late as hell…plus we got more walking tomorrow." Austin said as he got comfortable on the ground, covering himself with a camouflage blanket.

"I wonder if the professor put Tetris on me…nah…night guys."

Once he was sure everyone was asleep, spyro snuck out of the clearing and into the hedgerows surrounding it.

Spyro held out his arm and waited for the communicator to activate.

"What do you have for me?" Crozier asked as the holoscreen appeared in midair.

"Nothing but contempt"

"Don't toy with me dragon, she'll be dead if I give the word."

He hated being in this position, he was always careful to never leave himself at the mercy of his enemies. The very thought of being blackmailed, being powerless to control your own actions, filled spyro with rage.

"Here is the route we'll be traveling tomorrow…" he showed it to him on the map like he had before.

"There will be two attacks tomorrow, one will be a light skirmish, but the other, will be the finisher. The first attack will be an ambush, nothing for you to concern yourself with. After the first one, report back to me.

The second attack will take place here. Be sure to get them into position exactly as shown. Understand?"

The X's on the map indicated that they travel through a valley with steep cliff walls where gnorcs will be stationed with automatic weapons. The attack would commence as soon as spyro led them into the canyon and spread his wings.

"By the way…if you bring us the prophet, we'll release Ember. Make sure you get them there, or the deals off. And if you're thinking of telling the prophet of our plan…well…he doesn't take very well to spies, as you already know."

Spyro was trapped. He could either lead his friends to slaughter, or save his friends and lose ember forever.

"I swear I'll rescue ember and kill you and all your followers…you bastard…"

"Sure you will. Just do what needs to be done, and no harm will come to her."

The holoscreen disappeared and spyro stared up at the moon.

'Why? Why was I born the purple dragon? I didn't ask for this…if I wasn't the hero, none of this would have ever happened…'

Spyro walked back to the clearing and lay under the stars. His thoughts kept drifting to his impossible choice, he couldn't sleep at all. He waited for the sun to rise, finally it did.

"Spyro you look terrible. Did you sleep at all?" flame asked yawning

"I'm fine…let's just get going, we gotta find Ember."

They followed spyro through the woods in a strange, random path, cutting through the jungle. They walked for hours in what seemed like unchanging forest.

Then the first ambush exploded onto all of them.

Gnorcs, about 20 of them began firing out of the woods wildly. Flame, Austin and snow quickly went to work on the attackers.

"This is an ambush!" Austin shouted as he sent a plasma ball through a gnorc's gut.

'This is the second time this as happened! How do they know? It's like they know our route…but we're following spyro…no…it can't be him. He loves Ember, why would he betray us when we're trying to find her?'

It was at that moment that most all of the gnorcs had been slain, and he began to count the bodies.

"17…18…19… hey, weren't there 20 of them?"

Time seemed to slow down to ¼ its normal speed. The final gnorc rose up from behind a fallen tree, right behind flame.

Austin yelled for him to turn around but his words failed. The gnorc fired a single shot into flames back at point blank range.

"FLAME NO!!" spyro shouted as he watched in slow motion, the bullet left the barrel of the AK-47 and pierced flames scales. Spyro picked an AK off the ground and held the trigger down, filling the gnorc with lead.

Flame dropped to his knees and then fell over onto the bloody dirt.

They rushed to his side and tried to help him.

Spyro however didn't go to his side; he just stood there in shock, staring at his fallen friend.

"This is my fault…this is my fault!" he said as he ran off into the woods, holding back a tear.

"Spyro wait!" snow called after him

"No time! We'll find him later, we gotta help flame!"

'Ok professor, I hope you put some medical stuff on me' he thought, and sure enough, text appeared describing the situation:

SUBJECT-FLAME

SPECIES-DRAGON

INJURY SEVERITY- CRITICAL

RECOMMENDED ACTION-

PROP BACK LEGS OFF GROUND

EXTRACT BULLET.

PUT PRESSURE ON WOUND TO HALT BLEEDING

STERILIZE WITH ANTIBIOTICS AND WRAP WITH BANDAGE.

SECONDARY PROCEDURES-

1. 300mg OF MORPHINE IF NEEDED

'Seems easy enough…' he thought

"Stay with us flame! Look at snow, talk to her!"

Flame was losing blood fast, and he was semiconscious.

"Snow find something to prop his legs up with!"

She found a large rock and used it, then went back to flames side

"Stay with me flame, you're gonna be ok…" she said looking into his glazed eyes and feeling tears well up in hers.

"How…bad…is…it?" flame gasped

"You got a hole in your back…it's about the size of an acorn. Here, bite on this."

He put a thick tree root in flames mouth,

"Ok we gotta flip him over, I got his arms, grab his legs, and one...two…three"

Snow was grabbing dangerously close to flames groin, she almost dropped him when she realized this, but there was no time for embarrassment, they had a life to save.

"Ok flame this is gonna hurt, I have to get that bullet out of you. Three, two, one…"

Austin worked his blade into flames back and tried to find the bullet. Flame bit down as hard as he could, almost breaking the root in half.

Austin pulled out a small vial with a needle on one end.

"Snow, stick this in his leg until its empty ok?"

"What is it?"

"Its morphine, just do it!"

She did and flame's bite loosened and his eyelids drooped.  
Austin put his blade away and put his fingers into his wound, he felt fragments

"Damnit! The bullet's fragmented, hang on flame, we're almost done."

He removed piece after piece of the bullet until it was all out.

He saw flames heart rate in his vision and it began to drop.

"He's going into cardiac arrest! Snow we gotta flip him back over!"

In a burst of strength, she flipped him over by herself.

"Stay with me flame! I'm not giving up yet!"

"Don't let him die!"

The heart rate monitor he saw was slowly fading away with every beat.

'Shit, the professor didn't give me a defibrillator, what do I do now?!?!'

Then he remembered his plasma cannon shot electric bolts before it fired.

'Its risky…but I he'll die if I don't.' he thought

His weapon rose out of his arm and began to charge.

"Snow stop touching him or you'll get shocked!"

She jumped back and Austin waited for his cannon to charge, which seemed to take an unnaturally long time.

Flame's heart rate was still dropping…then the unthinkable…he flat lined

"HELL NO! YOU'RE NOT GOIN OUT LIKE THIS! NOT HERE!"

The cannon finally charged and he laid one side of it on flames chest and fired.

Flame's body jumped as the plasma shot off into the woods.

His heart restarted and Snow and Austin breathed a sigh of relief.

Flame opened his eyes and saw the two of them, their arms and chest covered in his blood.

INJURY SEVERITY-

STABILIZING….

STABLE

HEART RATE- NORMAL

INFECTIONS- NONE DETECTED

"Thank god. I thought we'd lost you there buddy." Austin said smiling.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" snow said as she hugged him

"AAAAAHHHHHH!!! I HAVE A WOUND THERE!" flame yelled

"Oh I'm sorry flame!" Snow backed away timidly.

"Be cool flame, she is just as responsible for you being alive as I am."

"Sorry snow…I'm just sore still."

"Its ok flame."

They bandaged him up and helped him to his feet; he stumbled around as he tried to regain his balance.

"Snow, help him walk, we gotta find spyro, and it wasn't like him to run off like that."

They set off in the direction that spyro was last seen.

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"How effective was the ambush?"

"YOU SHOT FLAME YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

"I don't care about 'flame' what about the prophet?"

"You missed him." Spyro growled, his anger at Crozier and himself building to the point where he could barely see straight.

"Just remember to get them in the canyon at the appropriate time. I want him dead."

The hologram shut off and he heard a noise that put ice in his veins.

click clack

It was the familiar sound of a pistol being cocked.

'No…' he thought

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**spyro has been discovered! will austin forgive him? can he ever be trusted again? will i ever stop asking questions that i, the author already know the answer to? maybe. anywayz the next chapter may be late. prom is next weekend and i will have a grand total of 0 hours of free time. i'll figure somthing out. later! r&r!**


	8. Chapter 8 Hells Gate Canyon

CHAPTER 8- HELLS GATE CANYON

**spyro has been caught by his freinds! what will happen next? read!**

"How long have you been standing there?" Spyro asked as he turned one eye to them.

"Long enough to know how the gnorcs have been setting ambushes for us." Austin answered.

"I don't believe what I just saw Spyro. You of all dragons…I assumed I could trust you. Guess that's what I get for assuming. Did your buddy Crozier tell you my feelings about spies?"

Spyro turned completely around to find Snow holding up Flame with his arm on her shoulder. The expression on their faces was one of utter shock. Austin was void of all emotion, spies were the reason he became an orphan, and he vowed to kill any he met after their death, no matter how close to him they were.

Austin's pistol was unflinchingly aimed at Spyros head.

Flame then spoke up in his weakened state.

"Spyro…I can't…why…why would you betray me? Us?"

He stood silent in his place, and looked at the ground, unable to make eye contact with any of them.

"You have five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't treat you like the other spies I've dealt with. The deepest circle of hell is reserved for traitors Spyro. Choose your next words wisely; they could be your last."

Spyro just stood there with his head as low as it could possibly be without him being on the ground.

"5…

4…

3…

2…" he cocked the hammer back on two and tightened his grip on the trigger.

Spyro looked up with tears in his eyes at the barrel of Austin's 9mm and spoke in a quivering voice.

"They blackmailed me…they took me to a cave, said if I didn't tell them what they wanted to know…they'd kill her."

Saying this meant that Spyro had to swallow his pride and ask for the aid of others. Something very foreign to him indeed.

There was silence as Austin considered what he was just told. 'Is he telling the truth? Normally I'd believe him, but we did just find out he's a spy. Can I trust him again?' these thoughts raced through his head as he still pointed his weapon at Spyro.

"I know Spyro…he's no spy…if I was in his place…I might have done the same" Flame said.

Slowly, Austin lowered his weapon, and then tucked it into the front of his shorts.

"Ok…I believe you Spyro. That sounds like something those bastards would do. But your betrayal has lost my trust. I'll be watching you until I feel I can again."

"Well… what do we do now?" Snow asked as she set Flame down on the ground.

"General Crozier said I had to lead you through a canyon to get Ember back. But it's a trap; there will be gnorcs on the hilltops, and coming in from both sides. He said we can either surrender, or be killed."

"I have never surrendered, and I don't plan on ever doing so…I guess that's the Spartan in me…hmmm…there has to be a way to surprise them…wait. You told him they shot flame right?"

"Yea"

"Ok, so now he thinks there are only 3 of us. Flame, we need you healthy so you can fight them. You're the only one he won't be expecting."

"We need a plan…"

They spent hours and finally came up with one that was risky, but if it worked, Ember would be back, Crozier would be dead, and black September would crumble.

"We need to get going, if we aren't there by the time he wants us there, she a goner."

They walked to Hells gate canyon the sky changed from blue to overcast as they got closer to their destination. Soon it came into view.

"Well, this is it…Flame, get into position and wait for Spyro to spread his wings."

"Ok…let me see what we're up against…"

Austin focused on the canyon cliffs, zooming in with his eyes, thanks once again to the professor.

"Hmm…five gnorcs on three hilltops each…all with AK's…I don't see, wait, ok there's Ember and Crozier. Flame, we need you to sneak up to the hilltop where Ember is, get her and then take her to the hiding place we talked about while we finish this. And just stay as far away from Crozier as possible. I don't know what he's capable of…I'm not even sure he's a human. Just don't try to fight him."

Spyro led Snow and Austin through the canyon. The silence was deafening as they slowly walked through Hells Gate.

'Well…this is it…' Spyro thought

"Are you guys ready?" Spyro whispered

"As we'll ever be." They answered

Spyro spotted Flame in position and gave the signal, spreading his wings.

Bullets came from every direction as Austin began firing at the hilltops, dropping gnorc after gnorc until he was out of ammunition.

Gnorcs soon surrounded them on all sides; luckily these weren't armed with guns, just swords.

Snow and Spyro were already hard at work fighting them, biting off heads, dismemberment, slashing, stabbing, the usual close quarters combat attacks.

Realizing he was out of ammo, he put his 9mm away and deployed his blade.

'Let's do this…Spartan style.' He thought as he lunged at a group of them, tearing through the gnorc lines like a knife through warm butter. A gnorc slashed down and Austin blocked it with his knife, then stabbed it in the gut, and threw the 400+ pound gnorc onto a group of the others, crushing them.

'Almost there…this is my chance…rescue Ember, she'd have to love me then!' Flame thought as he slowly approached Ember, Crozier and the guards restraining her.

Flame rose up, and roared as he threw a punch at a surprised crosiers chest, sending him tumbling backwards. He then threw the guards off the cliff and took the muzzle off Ember.

"Oh Flame! Thank god you're here! I thought I'd never see any of you again!" she hugged him as tight as she could, for as long as she could. She noticed him flinch and asked

"Whats wrong?"

"Nothing…I got shot, but I'm fine."

"You got shot?!"

"No time, I'll explain later, we have to get out of here."

He grabbed Ember, but heard something that made him stop dead in his tracks.

"What are you doing?"

Flame put Ember down and turned to face Crozier.

"That's it? You're just going to grab her and fly off? No fighting? I'm but a weak old man…think of the glory you would get if you killed me and rescued her. Your fame would surpass Spyros ten fold; you would be the savior of two realms."

Austin had told him not to even approach Crozier, but the thought of the glory he was never given a chance to get was too much for him to resist.

He charged Crozier…exactly as he planned.

Crozier pointed one of his sleeves at him and a bolt of blue lighting hit Flame right in the chest, lifting him off the ground and into the air.

"FLAME!" Austin yelled as he saw his body rise into the air.

"I told him not to fight Crozier! Spyro he's as bad as you!"

Austin spread his new wings and flew to Flames aid.

"LET HIM GO CROZIER! IT'S ME YOU WANT!"

He dropped Flame back to earth, leaving him gasping for air.

"Wings prophet? You will prove to be a bigger challenge then I thought."

"I've always wanted to ask you about that whole prophecy thing…what kind of prophet does it describe me as?"

"It only refers to you as a prophet once. After that, you are called the demon or, death incarnate. But not even demons are immune to death, as you will soon find out."

"All those titles are flattering, and I can only try to live up to them." Arrogance now more than obvious in his speech.

Austin had his right arm behind his back and got a lock on Crozier.

TERMINATE?

'Hell yes'

"WINGS ARENT ALL I'VE GOT!"

He quickly pointed the cannon at Crozier and fired. The plasma raced toward him but, like Spyros fireball, he caught it, and threw it back at him, hitting him in the stomach.

"AUSTIN!" Ember yelled as he fell the hundred or so feet to the bottom of the canyon.

Crozier touched Ember on the head with one finger and she fell asleep immediately. Spyro and Snow then arrived to see Flame gasping for air and Austin on the canyon floor. The got there just in time to see Crozier open a portal with a green crystal, and step through it, taking an unconscious Ember with him.

"NO!! NOT AGAIN! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HER?!" Spyro yelled at Flame

"THAT WAS YOUR ONLY JOB AND YOU SOMEHOW MANAGED TO SCREW THAT UP!" Spyro was consumed with an alien rage, like nothing he had ever felt in his entire life. He picked Flame up by the neck with nothing but white hot fury in his eyes, intimidating Flame to his very core. Spyros normally purple eyes now narrowed and shifted to a darker purple, almost black.

Flame was helpless to fight him off; he was at the mercy of Spyros uncontrollable anger.

"SPYRO LET HIM GO!" Austin yelled. He had flown back up a few seconds earlier.

"THIS IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN HUMAN! HE IS THE REASON EMBER IS GONE!"

Snow hit Spyro as hard as she could in the face with her tail, making him release Flame.

He fell to the ground and took a few breaths, his strange rage fading with each one.

"Who are you?" Austin asked

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean what am I talking about?! You almost choked out your best friend over something he couldn't control! First the spying and now this. Whats happened to you?"

Spyro had no idea. That anger was all consuming, it felt like he was invincible, stronger than ever before, it felt…dare he even think it…good.

"I don't know…when I saw Ember get taken away again…I attacked the nearest thing my instincts thought was responsible…"

Austin wiped some blood off the scratch snows tail left on Spyros face and rubbed it on the palm of his robotic hand.

ANALYZING…

OXYGEN LEVELS-NORMAL

NITROGEN LEVELS-NORMAL

CO2 LEVELS-NORMAL

HORMONAL LEVELS-VERY HIGH

ADRENALINE LEVELS-VERY HIGH

HEART RATE- 250 BPM

"It could be that, or it could be the fact that you have an abnormally high amount of male hormones coursing through you right now, and your unnaturally fast heart rate. And if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with this." He pointed to the scale Crozier placed on him.

"Might want to get rid of that."

Spyro ripped it off, flinching, but not yelling.

"That thing isn't just a communicator, it's been pumping you full of…let me see it."

He handed it to Austin and he put it in the palm of his right hand.

ANALYSIS COMPLETE-

PERCENT COMPOSITION-

60 PERCENT - SRX-45D TOXIN

40 PERCENT BLOOD

"Wow. SRX-45D. Oh yea, this stuff is bad news. It causes mood swings, and increases rage and generally makes you a jerk. Oh, and it will also eventually kill you with prolonged exposure."

"Flame…please forgive me…I don't know why I did that…I'm sorry."

"Its ok…just don't do that again, or I might have to take you down." Flame joked as Snow helped him to his feet.

"Now what do we do?" Snow asked

"We need to find out where he went. But I have no idea how we're gonna do that." Austin said.

"We have to go to the sorcerer's fortress. He controls the gnorcs, and they had human weapons. He'll know where they took her." Spyro said.

They began to leave and Austin threw the mechanical scale to the dirt.

Flame looked at it…then picked it up.

'If this thing was able to give Spyro strength, I bet it can do the same for me. That will show Ember that I'm just as strong as Spyro…if not more.' He thought as he put it away (wherever it is that dragons keep things.)and ran to join the others.

**damn! the master plan didnt work! ember is still missing. but there is hope for her yet. the next chapter is quite possibly the longest one i've ever written. but those questions will be answered then!**


	9. Chapter 9 The Resistance

CHAPTER 9- THE RESISTANCE

"What information do you have on the resistance?" Serevus asked approaching the soldier monitoring communication lines used by the resistance.

"Yes sir. We can now match a name to the resistance leader. Her name is Jessica. She is currently at these coordinates, as well as a sizeable amount of her top lieutenants."

"The resistance is led by a girl? This shouldn't be too hard. Gather platoon Charlie and load them into the helicopters. We are taking care of this problem now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Jessica, we have news from the spies inside black September."

"And?"

"They have reported choppers leaving with two loads of troops, heading our way."

"Wonderful." She said as she grabbed the documents off the table.

'Damnit. Austin tried to warn me about these guys, but I said he was crazy. If I ever find him, he'll never let me live it down.' She thought as she walked through the dimly lit and flickering hallways of the underground bunker, occasionally pieces of the ceiling falling off due to the constant shelling of the area.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"ALMOST THERE!" the jump master said as he ordered the soldiers to stand up.

Mathews had only been added to Charlie squad a few days ago, and he had never tasted combat. All he knew was the training he got when he first entered the black September armed forces or 'the army of the sun' as they were known.

It looked as though his baptism by fire was about to commence.

He clutched his brand new AK-47 and stood up as the doors to the chopper opened to a hellish part of town known as 'the jungle'. Buildings were but empty shells and rubble littered the streets, as did the bodies of the innocent, and the guilty. This place was a hotbed of anti black September sentiment. The overcast skies only added to the tone of the mission.

"STAND UP!"

He did as he was told, as did the rest of his platoon. The ropes were thrown out of the helicopter and one by one, the members of his platoon fast-roped down to the waiting resistance gunfire below.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jessica heard the helicopters outside the compound and stopped dead in her tracks.

"They're here already?!"

"I guess they are! Let's get out of here!"

"No way! We have to stand and fight!"

"They are here to kidnap you! I can't let that happen, you know too much!"

Jessica and her bodyguard Claus departed the hallway and ran through tunnel after tunnel, setting charges as they went, trying to make them unable to be followed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mathews slid down the rope hanging from the helicopter and was dropped into hell. This was his only mission: to find and kill the prophet. Everyone knew what he looked like, pictures of him were everywhere, and all members of black September knew to shoot as soon as they saw him.

Mathews took cover behind the rusted out shell of an old car, hearing the rounds bounce off the ageing metal. He wasn't Mathews here. Here he was just his number, 586. That's what he was given at basic, and that's what would be on his tombstone. Death didn't frighten him though, he was trained not to fear it, and his fanatical devotion to black September, was second to none. He would die if he were ordered to do so.

He peeked his head out from behind the car. He saw his target, a resistance fighter had the rest of his squad pinned down with a machine gun, and what was better yet, he hadn't even spotted him hiding behind the car. Now was his chance, his first kill, in the name of their beloved god, Ra. He rested his weapon on the hood of his cover and squeezed of a three round burst, dropping the fighter, and freeing his squad. His heart was pounding and he ran to rejoin his comrades. As they moved up, he went to the spot where the machine gunner had been. He was no older than he was, a boy of 18, probably with a mother, a father, maybe even a sister, or a brother…and he was still alive, though barely.

He knew what he had to do…he drew his pistol, and pointed it at the wounded soldiers head. He pulled the trigger, sending blood spattering on his uniform.

'My first kill…the drill sergeants were right, you never forget it'

His squad blew the door off of the building where Jessica had been just moments earlier.

"586 clear that doorway!"

"Got it sarge!"

Mathews went up to the door, and kicked it as hard as he could, flinging it open.

He saw a small metal device with a timer tied to the door knob and attached to what was unmistakably, a bomb. The bomb exploded, riddling 586 with shrapnel and sending him through the wall. He was dead. He gave exactly what he was supposed to. His squad didn't even look back. Exactly like they were trained. The fight went on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jessica and Claus entered a secret bunker deep underground; it was the headquarters of the whole resistance movement. Jessica was an excellent fighter and a brilliant strategist, but she was no revolutionary leader. That was supposed to be Austin's job. To lead this fledgling faction to topple black September or 'the empire of the sun' as they called themselves.

"We have just received word that there is a very important prisoner that is to be transported to the D.C. castle at 1700 hours tomorrow. She is supposed to be very important to them. If we can spring her, then we will have a bargaining chip against them to release some of our top operatives."

"Good, then get a raiding party ready. We need to get her out of there."

"Oh and one more thing…"

"What?"

"The prisoner…isn't human."

"What? Then what is it?"

"According to our Intel… it's a dragon."

"A what? Dragons don't exist."

"Three of our moles said they saw what could only be a dragon. Just don't open the cell until we know what the hell it is."

She set out with her ten man crew to the motor pool, where two captured paladin tanks were ready to roll. They all dressed in black September uniforms and set out to find the prisoner transport. They stopped the truck at the gates of the prison and radioed the crew of the transport, telling them they were to escort them to the palace.

Once they came to the palace gates, they stopped.

"Are you all ready?" Jess asked

"Yes ma'am!" they responded

"3…2…1… go go go!"

They charged out of the tank and gunned down the truck crew, and grabbed the large box with the prisoner.

"Let's get that thing back to base!"

Ember felt a jolt as she awoke from her sleep, as if she had been dropped. It was then she realized that she was in a cage of some kind. And a small one at that.

"Let me out of here!" she called out of the air holes in the top of the container.

She heard voices outside her cell.

"Should we let it out ma'am?"

"Yea, but be on guard, I don't know what to expect from it."

Ember felt her container rattle and one of the walls fell, then another, then another until they had all fallen.

Ember looked around, scared and confused she asked

"Who are you?" she said, trying to hide her fear.

"It's ok. We rescued you from black September. You're safe now."

Ember remembered what she last saw at hells gate canyon.

"Oh god…where is Spyro…where is Flame… and Austin…" she said softly

"How do you know Austin?"

"He was in my realm helping rescue me from the sorcerer…then…that's all I remember."

A resistance fighter entered the room

"Jessica! We have reports that Austin has been spotted in the city with more dragons!"

"Good. What was you're name, by the way?"

"Ember."

"Well ember, you can stay here while we go get Austin and those other dragons. Looks like we'll be having a reunion."

(This part of the story happens simultaneously with the beginning of this chapter.)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Spyro, Flame, Austin, and Snow walked for a while, and then decided to fly. They hadn't seen a dreadwing all day and let's face it, walking versus flying? No contest.

The fortress finally came into view.

"There it is. We need to start on the ground and work our way to his throne room."

"Why does he have throne room? Is he a king or something?" Austin asked.

"No. he just has a _HUGE _ego."

The four of them landed at the entrance to his fortress. The doors opened by themselves on Que.

"This looks inviting…" Flame said sarcastically walking into the long central hallway with the others.

"So I'm gonna guess you know your way around here?" Snow asked Spyro.

"Yes I've been here a few times."

They came to a large steel door at the end of the hallway. So far, all they had seen in the castle were the torches lighting the hallway and a red carpet that seemed to stretch on forever.

Spyro got a running start and charged head first into the door, leaving his horn marks on it, but nothing more.

He got ready for another run, Austin stopped him.

"Spyro stop."

"Why?"

"Well, you could continue trying to give yourself the largest headache you've ever had, or, you could let me have a crack at it. Robot arm. Remember?"

Austin reared back, and punched the door as hard as possible, sending fragments of it into the other room, making a hole big enough for all of them to fit through.

"I didn't remember a steel door last time I was here…"

"Maybe he wised up after your last bout."

They went into the room where there were a set of spiral stairs that seemed to go on for ever.

"Well, let's get started…"

They climbed up the stairs and FINALLY got to the top. They stood in the throne room of the sorcerer.

"Welcome back Spyro. I see you brought some friends."

"Yea, I did! And now you are gonna tell us how to find Ember, or we're gonna kill you. "

"Did you notice my improvements to my fortress?"

"If by improvements, you mean a single steel door and a disappointing lack of henchmen, yea we did."

"I don't need henchmen. I can make you my henchmen at a moments notice."

Spyro raised an intrigued eyebrow.

"Really? And how is that even possible?"

The sorcerer smiled as his staff materialized in his hand

"Like this."

He chanted a short phrase and his staff emitted a red smoke that filled the whole room, including the lungs of the heroes.

"What…is…this?" Austin coughed

The gas they inhaled soon took effect and they began to hallucinate.

Austin looked over at Flame, Spyro and Snow. Instead of seeing them, he saw general Crozier, captain Serevus, and a black September soldier.

Spyro saw his old enemies, Ripto, Gnasty, and Red.

"This smoke will make your most hated enemies appear before you. Better act quickly though, they won't hesitate to take you down" the sorcerer said laughing

Flame saw an old bully who picked on him when he was young; he saw a particularly large gnorc and the last one took him by surprise. He saw Spyro.

'Spyro isn't my enemy. Why do I see him?"

Spyro, Flame, Snow and Austin all saw different enemies when they looked at each other. They couldn't see through the fog of war, and attacked each other, not knowing they were fighting to kill their friends, not their enemies.

Spyro fought Austin, and Flame attacked Snow.

Spyro slashed with his claws at what he thought was Red. He missed and 'Red' saw his opportunity and threw a punch that knocked the wind out of him.

Luckily for Spyro and the others, Austin had no ammo for his pistol, but his blade was just as deadly. Spyro regained his breath and struck at Austin with his tail, missing him, but slashing his back, making him bleed profusely.

"AAHHH! DAMN YOU CROZIER!"

Snow and Flame, not knowing any fighting styles in particular, just ran at each other and began clawing and punching wildly, scratching each other up quite a bit.

"That should keep them busy for a while." The sorcerer said as he opened the portal to go back into the human realm and stepped through it, leaving the fighters alone.

Soon the smoke dissipated and the effects began to wear off. The all looked at each other, stunned.

"Where did Crozier go? I swear he was just here!" Austin said, feeling the cuts Spyro left on him.

"He has some gnarly fingernails for a … whatever he is."

"I think the sorcerer said that smoke made us hallucinate." Flame said standing up

"Speaking of evil, where'd the sorcerer go?"

They realized they were alone in the throne room.

"He must have portal jumped back to my realm."

"I only know one guy who would know for sure." They left the empty castle and flew back to the temple to meet with Ignitus and the other elders.

They flew in almost total silence and, in two pairs. Spyro and Austin were wingmen, while Flame and Snow where each others.

"Flame, while Austin and I were trying to save you, he said your heart stopped. What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"What was it like…to die?"

"Well…I remember you guys standing over me, then I blacked out. I felt like I was above my own body…I could see you two working on me. Austin used his plasma gun to restart my heart, right?"

"Yea…he did…" Snow said, astonished that Flame had somehow seen everything they had done.

"The last thing I remember before waking up was being almost thrown back toward my body and when I hit, it felt like I got pushed into a pool of ice water. Then I saw you guys again."

Flame then made eye contact with snow for the first, real time. He never noticed before how beautiful she was, with her white scales and perfect silver horns. He saw a look in her eyes that he occasionally got from Ember, whenever he comforted her or let her cry on his shoulder. 'No way…does she like me?' he thought. He tried to recall all of their previous encounters and realized she was always near him, and she told everyone's else bye but hugged him instead, he remembered how she cute she looked when she tried to act tough. She was definitely a fighter, and a good one at that, but a macho male dragon, she was not. 'Oh yea, she's got it bad!' he thought smugly to himself. 'I wonder if this is how Spyro feels all the time. Girls are always throwing themselves at him…' he lamented, but his joy returned when he remembered that Ember may like him too. 'This is a position I never thought I'd find myself in. two girls, both wanting me…life is good.' Then he thought more about the decision he would have to make if Ember actually admitted wanting him as a mate. He could either break Snows heart, or Embers. 'Damn…if Spyro has to make these choices all the time, then he can have his fame.' Flame elected not to even worry about it until they had Ember back and she chose between the two of them.

Spyro and Austin were having a different conversation a little more casual than the one to their left.

"How did you know how to treat flame?" Spyro asked

"Well, the professor's upgrade helped, but I've treated gunshot wounds before. Hell, I've been shot three times. This one hurt the most."

He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt on his left arm to reveal a scar and a tattoo that spyro never noticed before.

"What is that?"

"It's a tattoo I got after my parents were killed."

It was an eagle with its wings stretched straight out from its body with its head turned to the left. In its talons it grasped a wreath with Austin's initials inside it.

"The eagle represents power and strength, the letters are my initials. Eagles were my dads favorite animal, so I thought it made since to have an eagle holding a wreath. The wreath represents my mom, and the initials of course, are me."

"Wow…that's some deep symbolism."

"I try to keep it simple."

There was a pause before Spyro spoke again

"I can't believe I did that…"

"Did what?"

"Spied on you guys…I almost got flame killed, I almost led all of you to an ambush, and for what?"

"For Ember. You did it because you love her. Don't beat yourself up about this Spyro; you were faced with an impossible choice. I don't know what I would have done in your position… and as far as regaining my trust, don't worry about it. The way I see it, if you wanted me dead, I'd already be that way."

"Thanks…"

They flew until they finally reached the temple.

"Ignitus! We need to talk to you!" Flame called into the echoing halls of the temple.

"What is it my son?" Ignitus said walking out of the ancient library.

"Have you felt anything strange as far as portal activity?" Spyro asked

"Yes, I did feel a powerful portal jump happen about an hour ago. Two life forms, one was a dragon. They went out of this realm, that much is certain. As for where they have gone…I have no way of knowing."

Austin pulled out his 9mm and stretched his arms, accidentally pointing it at Ignitus.

"Don't point that death machine at me! I don't want to get shot!" he said nervously

"Relax, it's out of ammo." Then a thought occurred to Austin, he had never fired it near any of the elders, how would he know what it does?

"How do you know how this works?" he asked

Ignitus sighed and replied

"Ever since dragons left your realm, we have been keeping an eye on it, to see when, if ever, it was safe to go back. We believed it was about to cool off enough to send scouts, but then on September 11th 2001, some human aircraft crashed into some tall buildings and then the violence exploded onto the planet once more. Then, these black September people took over the whole planet and now…I doubt it will ever be safe to return. Come with me, I'll show you what I mean." He led them through hallways and into a large room with a pool of emerald liquid in it, sparkling brilliantly.

"So…how much of our history have you seen?" Austin asked

"We were there since the first one of you walked on two legs. We saw unbelievable valor from the ones known as Greeks at the battle of troy, when they were outnumbered 1000 to 1, using tactical brilliance to outsmart their enemies. Unfortunately that same fanaticism and tactical genius would be our downfall from this realm. We fought and beat humans in the dark ages easily by themselves, but soon they amassed armies with advanced weapons, forged from our beloved fire. We began to take mounting losses…eventually, the original council of elders decided it was in the best interest of our survival to leave this realm, and start anew. After we left, the elders created a way to watch the realm to see when it was safe to return. But without a common enemy, your kind began to fight each other. From the first time a group of you beat each other with sticks, all the way up to the recent takeover by black September. We have seen and cataloged it all."

"this is a clairvoyance pool; it lets us look into other realms."

They crowded around the pool and Ignitus chanted in an ancient tongue, activating it.

A vision of earth was seen, then of the capitol of black September, in the former capitol of the superpower, the United States. Washington D.C. a large intimidating palace was built on where the white house once stood.

A truck pulled up at the gates, escorted by two tanks. The crew of the truck got out and went to the back, removing a large box with holes at the top, and taking it to the gates of the fortress.

"That's got to be Ember, she's the bait. This sorcerer guy wants you dead, and he knows I'm going to try to help you free her. That's what Crozier is expecting."

"We have to do something!" Flame said, but Austin held up his hand as he noticed movement when the crews of the tanks got out, and began shooting the guards and the crew carrying Ember.

"What are they doing?!" Snow said, worry clearly in her voice.

"It's a resistance raid! I knew black September didn't have total control!" Austin said joyfully, his hope rising.

The imposter tank crew grabbed embers cell and carried it off out of view.

"Where are they taking her?" Ignitus asked

"Someplace safe, I feel sure." Austin said.

"Hey I know that one! That's Jess! I should have known she wouldn't fall in line behind black September's ideas! She called me crazy when I tried to warn her. I can't wait to see the look on her face!"

"Looks like we are going back to your realm Austin." Spyro said turning away from the pool.

"If we want her back, we have to hurry; black September will notice their most valuable prisoner missing and come after her."

They left the temple and went back to the professor's lab, back where this whole thing started.

"Ahh welcome back! I was wondering when you were ready to go back to your realm."

"We are all going back professor." Flame said

"Really? Well in that case I should have built more of these." He held up a small metal wristband.

"This is the portal generator. I was able to shrink it down to this size and, it will never run out of teranium!" he gave it to Austin who put it on, and it adjusted to his wrist automatically.

"Since there is only one between all of you, you will all need to be touching each other when you activate it."

"How does it work?" Austin asked, being sure to ask all the questions he could think of before charging into things again.

"Just enter the year, date and time, then enter the exact coordinates of your physical destination, and off you go."

Austin examined the keypad and saw a button marked 'randomize'.

His curiosity getting the best of him, he asked

"What does the randomize button do?"

"If you don't have time to enter all the required info, just press it to escape whatever trouble you get into. This will randomly enter the required fields."

"Let's give this a shot…" Austin said as the rest of his friends put their claws on his shoulders.

He pressed the randomize button and the group disappeared into a flash of light.

They flew through the same multicolored light tunnel that was oh so familiar to Spyro and Austin.

They ended up standing on the ground instead of plunging headfirst into it.

"Where are we?" Spyro asked as they released his shoulder.

"Hmmm…according to this…the year is 480 B.C. and these coordinates indicate…uh oh."

"Do you guys hear that?" Snow asked as the ground rumbled beneath their feet and a growing roar approaching.

"Why did you say uh oh?" Flame asked nervously

"Hang on…let me check our coordinates…this is bad."

"Will you tell us where we are?!" spyro yelled over the growing rumble.

"We're at the battle of thermopolayae! That rumble is the approach of 250,000 men willing to fight and die to kill those 300 hundred guys over there, and we are right in the middle of the battle field! We need to leave now!"

They needed no further explanation, they grabbed somewhere on him, just as arrows began to fall in their direction. He pressed randomize once again, disappearing in a familiar flash.

They landed again in what appeared to be a Japanese town.

"Where the hell are we now?" Flame asked as the townspeople stopped and stared at the three dragons and the bionic human that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Ok…lets see…the date is august, 1945…it's about 8:15 am…"

"I don't care _when _we are! _Where _are we?!"

"Oh my god…we are in Hiroshima Japan!" he looked up at the sky and saw a single bomber over head.

"Grab on! We need to leave!"

"Why? Whats so special about 'Hiroshima'? It seems nice here." Snow asked

"One, because this isn't even the right year or place and two, because this whole city is about to be turned into radioactive powder!"

They jumped again, hoping to land someplace a little less deadly.

Finally, they landed in a field in Ukraine and entered the correct coordinates.

They arrived in the middle of a street that was stained with blood. The rusted and burned out hulks of cars littered the area. Tall buildings were merely shadows of their former selves. The constant fighting had gutted them all. The bodies of the dead were pinned, rotting underneath the rubble that was their tomb. The first sense to be violated by this hellish place was smell, and for dragons, who are especially sensitive to it, it was truly terrible.

"Oh god I can't breathe!" Snow said trying to hold her breath against the rancid air.

"You'll get used to it after a while; just take a few breaths through your mouth." Austin instructed.

"And I thought this place was a dump before black September…" he said turning to face his friends, still reeling from the stench.

"Where…are…we?" Spyro coughed

"Welcome to the jungle. Stay close to me and keep your heads down. That's the only way I can guarantee that you live. Got it?"

They nodded and set out down the dark street lit only by the few streetlamps that weren't knocked down or shot out.

"Where are we going?" Snow asked

"We need to find the resistance-"he paused mid sentence

"You guys hear that?"

"Hear what?"

A low grinding noise was coming from behind a large wall of rubble, easily 20 feet high.

"That sounds like a…TANK!" Austin waited and the massive metal beast exploded through the wall of debris.

"What is that thing?!" Flame yelled over the roar of its engine. Its large main gun aimed right at them, the drivers hatch popped open and a female human climbed halfway out, she looked to be about 17 or 18 years old.

"About time you showed up!" she said to Austin, his expression was one of relief.

"Since when did you learn to drive one of those?"

"Since I had to lead the resistance when you disappeared!"

TYPE- LIVING ORGANISM

BLOOD- WARM

NAME- JESSICA

SPECIES- HUMAN

ORIGIN- UNITED STATES

DATE 1ST ENCOUNTERED- AUGUST 12, 1992

MATES-NONE KNOWN

ABILITIES-NO SPECIAL ABILITIES.

KNOWLEDGE- LEADER OF HUMAN RESISTANCE. BRAVE IN COMBAT. EXCELLENT STRATEGIST.

TERMINATE?

'No'

She climbed out of the tank and down to their level.

"Wow. Who and what are these?" she asked, looking at the confused dragons behind him.

"Lets see…Spyro, Snow, Flame…this is the girl who owes me an apology for calling me crazy and paranoid. Girl who owes me an apology for calling me crazy and paranoid, this is Spyro, Flame, and Snow. They are dragons."

"Very funny. My name is Jessica. Call me Jess."

After the introductions they were about to head back to the tank when a bullet zipped passed Austin's head, missing him by an inch.

"GET DOWN!" he shouted and they immediately took cover. A patrol of about five soldiers began firing at them from 30 yards away, behind some rubble.

Flame and Spyro were safe behind a car. Jess had made it inside the tank and was beginning to start it up. Snow and Austin were behind a concrete barrier. It was only big enough for one person, but they were both crammed behind it.

"Snow listen! Take this…" he handed her his 9mm.

"If any of them come close to you, just point it at them and pull the trigger like I've been doing ok?"

"Yea…ok!" she said. Try as she did to hide it, fear was clearly in her voice. She tried to keep up with the guys, but the battlefield was no place for her, and she knew it.

Austin deployed his blade and plasma gun, charging the scouts. He slowly moved up, trying to flank them and kill'em all at once. They were still firing at snows position, so he assumed they thought he was still there.

He got halfway through the distance between them when he saw one of them throw what was unmistakably…a grenade.

'Oh shit! I didn't tell her what those are! She doesn't know to move!' he thought as he watched the grenade sail through the air and land behind the barrier he was just using for cover.

'Oh no…please run Snow!'

Snow kept her head down just she was told, but noticed a silvery object land at her feet, the light from the burning fires reflected beautifully off of it. It appeared to be blinking; she picked it up and looked at the baseball sized orb. Suddenly, something inside her told her that this thing was something bad. She dropped it and tried to run away, but it was too late. The grenade detonated with a loud boom and a blinding fireball. It shockwave threw her through the air and into a car beside spyro and flame, smashing the whole side of it.

'SNOW!!" Flame cried as he ran to her. The explosion had thrown shrapnel all through her and she was hurt pretty bad.

Austin's anger intensified as he watched an innocent dragon get tossed into a vehicle and riddled with shrapnel.

"She didn't have to be here! She isn't even involved you bastards!!" Austin yelled, giving away his position. By this point, he put away his cannon, opting instead for his blade, his anger causing him to blindly charge the attackers, dodging bullets as he sprinted the rest of the way, going on a stabbing and slashing frenzy once he arrived. The first soldier was foolhardy enough to try hand to hand combat. Austin caught his first punch in his right hand and crushed his fist, making sure every bone in the soldiers hand cracked. He then drew the soldiers own knife and stabbed him in the chest with it.

The next man was a little smarter, but not much, he had actually drawn his combat knife and attacked. He stabbed down at Austin and he caught his arm, holding it while the soldier tried to force the blade down. Austin flipped his hand over and put his other arm under the soldiers arm. With one swift motion, he broke his arm and bent it back in, stabbing him with his own blade, while it was still in his hand. The other three attacked all at once with their bayonets. The first tried a slash, but Austin grabbed the barrel of his gun and threw him into the other two, knocking all three into the unstable wall of a building, collapsing it on top of them.

"AUSTIN GET OVER HERE!" Flame yelled.

He glided over to where he saw Flame and Spyro huddled around a wounded snow.

SUBJECT-SNOW

SPECIES-DRAGON

ALLERGIES-NONE

INJURY SEVERITY- SEVERE

RECOMMENDED ACTION

REMOVE SHRAPNEL

STERILIZE WITH HYDROGEN PEROXIDE

ADMINISTER ANTIBIOTICS

"We need to get this junk out of her!" Austin instructed as he began to inject her with morphine. She was soon asleep and they began to painstakingly remove all of the metal shards from her chest and wings.

"She's stable. I think most of them just grazed her. She'll be ok, now let's get her to the tank, we need to get back to headquarters." They carefully loaded snow into the armored vehicle and Jessica began to navigate the destroyed city back to the resistance base.


	10. Chapter 10 Tensions Released

CHAPTER 10- TENSIONS RELEASED

**WARNING: the following chapter may leave a citrus aftertaste. (lemonish chapter)**

Flame and Spyro stayed in the rear of the tank with snow while Austin kept a lookout for mines and more enemies.

When they arrived back in the large well lit hangar, a familiar face was waiting for them. Austin was the first to exit the tank.

Ember saw him and hugged him as hard as she possible could, and her being a dragon, she nearly crushed him.

"Ember…I…can't…breathe…"

"Sorry!" she said releasing him

"Your hugs have a strong reputation, but I enjoy a 'job well done' as much as the next revolutionary leader." Austin looked at the soldiers who were still holding their salute. He saluted them and they stood at attention.

"Don't just stand there! We got wounded! Get a medic out here!"

"Yes sir!" they departed into the back of the tank and carried Snow out of it on a stretcher.

"Get her to the hospital wing." he said

Spyro and Flame walked out of the tank and Ember nearly tackled the both of them.

"I missed you guys so much!" she said, grabbing them both and kissing them both on the cheek, making them blush.

"Glad to see you too Ember." Spyro said when she released them.

"What happened to Snow?"

Neither Spyro nor Flame knew exactly what happened, all they saw was a flash, a loud boom, and her being thrown through the air and into a car.

"I don't really know, all I know is that she got thrown into a car and was hurt pretty bad." Flame explained

"It was a grenade." Austin said walking up behind Ember.

"I didn't tell her what they looked like, what they did…it was my fault, I didn't warn her…" his voice saddened slightly as he finished, then Spyro spoke up

"That part may have been your fault, but you did save her life afterwards, thanks to your upgrade."

"What do you mean upgrade?" Ember asked looking at Austin, trying to find something different about him.

Austin smiled as he always did when someone asked him about his new toys.

"Check this out." He said

Austin spread out his implanted wings, extended his blade, and deployed his plasma cannon.

"What the hell?" Jessica was climbing out of the tank when he did all this, and was stunned.

"Wow, Austin your wings look great!" Ember said

"And I have no one to thank but the professor. He gave me all I have."

"When did you get these?" Jess said, looking him over.

"While I was with them. I got the professor some teranium 238 and he gave me all this."

After they got a good look at Austin's upgrades, they decided to go see Snow in the medical ward.

They found a medic and were directed to her room.

They entered to find her lying peacefully in bed, with an intravenous drip in her right arm, and she was hooked to a heart monitor. Her white bandages were placed in seemingly random spots on her body, but other than that, she looked fine.

They gathered around her bed and Flame asked

"Why is she still asleep?"

"I put enough morphine in her earlier to knock out a whale. She'll be awake in a day or so, she just needs rest."

They stayed in her room for a few more minutes before jess showed them to their rooms.

Spyro, Flame and Austin were in one room and Ember and eventually Snow would be in another.

Flame had decided to stay with snow until she woke up, as did ember. Spyro and Austin however, spent most of the day hunting black September soldiers who got lost or separated from their squads, making sure to keep score to compare them at the end of the day. Spyro came out on top with 7, while Austin had only 6.

"You only beat me because the three of them were behind a propane tank!" Austin said as they flew back to the base.

"I saw the opportunity, and I took it. Don't hate because I have killing skills!"

While this was happening, Flame and Ember were sitting in snows room in silence.

Flame was dying to ask ember who she wanted as a mate. He couldn't take the tension anymore.

"Ember, I have to know…who do you want as your mate, me or Spyro?"

She took a while to answer that, as if she was searching her very soul.

"I love you Flame…but I love Spyro too…I'm worried that I will hurt one of you if I choose the other. The last thing I want to do is hurt either of you."

The only noise in the room was the constant beep of the heart monitor. Ember continued

"The more I think about it, the more I don't want to decide."

"Then don't listen to your brain. Listen to your heart. What does it tell you?"

Again, a pause for what seemed like hours, although the clock said it was merely seconds.

Ember searched her heart as she never had before. The instinct part of her told her that Spyro was the strongest, most powerful dragon in the realms. He is the peak of physical dominance. As far as species propagation, he was the obvious choice.

But her emotional and rational side told her that Flame was less reckless, less arrogant. He would be a great father for her children. A more stable one then Spyro would at least.

Before she could answer, Snow moved, and then opened her eyes. Flame ran to her side and grabbed her hand.

"Snow…thank the ancestors you woke up!"

Snow was still drowsy from the painkillers that she was shaking off.

"Where…am…I?"

"You're in the hospital wing of Austin's base. He made sure you stayed alive after that grenade exploded near you." he patiently explained.

Snow recognized ember at her bedside.

"Ember! Thank the ancestors we found you…I thought we'd lost you…"

Ember hugged her, and then left before flame reminded her that she never gave him an answer.

By this time, Austin and Spyro were on their way down to see if snow was conscious yet when Ember met them in the hallway.

"Spyro I need to talk to you in my room she said, not even slowing down as she grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her at a brisk pace.

"Guess I'll see you later then Spyro!" Austin called as the two of them turned the corner.

(The following scenes happen simultaneously)

**SPYRO**

Halfway to her room Spyro took back his hand and stopped.

"Would you mind explaining why you are dragging me to your room?"

Ember's hormones were in overdrive. Her instincts were in complete control.

'Flame has Snow. He will be her mate and everyone will be happy.' She rationalized to herself. She had no time to answer him with words, so she did it with her lips. She kissed him in the middle of the hallway, their tongues playing with the others; she broke the kiss and continued to drag him to her room, although he was more willing to go than earlier.

She finally got to her room and closed and locked the door.

"Ember…what are you doing?" Spyro asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"I've made my decision. I want you in me now."

"Are you sure this is-"

"What part of _now_ don't you understand?!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Ember was blinded by her hormones. Instead of the usual male-dominant style, she tackled Spyro and was about to force him into her.

"Hey…you can't be the male…that's my job!" he laughed as he easily reversed her pin and was now on her. She did what came almost automatically, opening her legs as Spyro did what came naturally to him, and dove right in. It felt so right to Ember, not only was she mating with the dragon she wanted but, he was the most famous dragon in all the dragon realms. The air became hot and filled with lust as they continued on for hours late into the night.

**FLAME**

He forgot to get Embers answer, but she was gone by that time. Austin then came in a few minutes later.

"Snow, you awake?" he asked

"Yea…I am…" she answered wearily.

"Glad to see you're ok. Flame has been here all night waiting on you, sleepy."

"You saved her. I can't take all the credit." Flame admitted

"Well I'll leave you two alone, I've got places to be." He closed the door and departed down the hallway.

"Flame, you stayed here all night, for me?"

"Yea, I did…but that's what you do for someone you lo-"he caught himself in time to think carefully about completing that word.

'Do I love her?' he thought about it, and then she grabbed his hand. He felt something he had only felt when ember touched him, but this was at least five times that strong.

He looked into her eyes and finished the sentence

"Love."

He could tell her heart was jumping by the look of sheer joy in her eyes, also by the heart rate monitor which was beeping wildly.

Flame leaned in and kissed her for a least a minute.

'Ember can have Spyro, Snow is mine!' he thought proudly as he ended it and looked into her eyes once more.

"Flame…I love you too. I think I'm…ready for the next step…" she said as she removed the sticky heart rate pads and pulled out her I.V.

"Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you."

She threw off the blanket that covered her from the waist down. She was clearly ready for 'action'.

Flame closed the curtains and locked the door. He had never mated before, but he thanked his lucky stars for the overriding effects of male hormones. He of course had an idea of how it worked, but this was his first practical application. He climbed easily on top of Snow, her silver horns glistening in the soft fluorescent lights.

"Ready?" he whispered softly

"Yes"

They may not have been the most experienced couple who ever mated, but they were sure they had more passion for each other than any expert on the subject.

The windows into the hospital room began to fog up as they continued for two hours before snow finally grew tired. She wasn't completely over the drugs yet.

"I don't have these drugs out of me yet…I'm sorry Flame."

"Oh baby…you have _nothing_ to be sorry about! That was awesome! I say we pick up where we left off in the morning." Flame said as he lay beside her on the hospital bed, grinning devilishly.

"Deal. Now let's get some…" before she could even complete her sentence, she was out like a light. Flame put his arm around her and slept as well, feeling more fulfilled and complete than he could ever remember.

**AUSTIN**

Austin closed the door to Snows room and continued down the hallway to Jessica's room. He checked the hallways for people. Seeing none, he quietly entered the room. The door to the bathroom was closed and she came out, steam from the shower she had just taken, following her. She was in nothing but a towel, and she was shocked to see him, but not surprised.

"I thought black September had killed you, but they didn't. What a shame." She said sarcastically.

"I think the sweet talk is what I miss the most." He said, sending just as much sarcasm her way.

"Well it took you long enough to get here."

"Ever done it with an angel before?" he asked grinning arrogantly

"You're no angel."

"I got the wings don't I?"

"Yea, that'll take some getting used to." She said dropping the towel, exposing herself completely.

"Don't worry baby girl, they only come out when I want them to." He said taking off his shirt.

"Enough talk, I haven't seen you in months. I hope you're ready for the long haul."

"Ohh…ok so if I resist, then you will-"

"No more talking! The pants. Lose them."

"Yes ma'am!" he did as he was told and they too, were at it for hours into the early morning, just like his friends.

(Ok, this is the end of the simultaneous scene shenanigans)

The next morning, Austin awoke in Jessica's bed alone. He got dressed and went down to Snows room to check on her. When he got to the door, it was locked and the blinds were closed.

'Ok…that doesn't need any further explanation. Nicely done Flame.' He thought as he kept on walking down to his room. He entered the room him and Flame and Spyro shared, it was empty.

'Spyro you devil!' he thought as he walked to Embers room just to make sure she was there. Sure enough, the door was locked.

He then decided to go to the roof of the tall building that was the façade hiding the underground base. To his surprise, Jess was up there watching the sunrise.

"Hey baby girl, what are you doing up here?"

"They have taken over the whole planet Austin…how can we stop them? There are millions of them out there."

"We take over, one city at a time. All we have to do is take out Crozier. He commands the whole western hemisphere. After that, the east is all that's left."

"Crozier isn't the top of the ladder, like we thought he was." Jess said

"Then who is?"

"Not who, but what. It's called Ra. They believe they've brought back the spirit of the Egyptian sun god. Hence why they call themselves 'the army of the sun, and the empire of the sun, and such."

"No one said it was going to be easy."

"If most of the adults hadn't fallen behind their insane ideology, we, two 17 year olds wouldn't have to lead the resistance."

"If 'if' and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas."

"What? God you're lucky you're cute or your stupidity would be a major turn off."

"You know you can't live without me."

"Yea I could!"

"Sure. Maybe for a few weeks. But then who would you get 'it' from? Claus?"

"Damnit, I hate it when you're right."

"Let's go see if the rest of them are awake. They were just as busy as we were last night."

They met Flame and Spyro down in the cafeteria for breakfast while their mates slept.

"So, how was everyone's night?" Austin asked as Jess went back to her room.

Flame and Spyro didn't know that the other had mated with who they did.

"Well…" Spyro couldn't contain his secret anymore, he had to tell someone

"I mated with Ember last night! And it was freaking amazing!" he said excited

"Flame? What did you do last night?" Austin asked

"Me and Snow mated too. Three times. " He said smiling triumphantly.

"How about you Austin? Did you and Jess do whatever the human equivalent of mating is?"

"It's the same thing dragon's do and aww yea! We went for hours!"

They continued talking about the night before, bragging and retelling their story like all males do after a score.

They ate and then began to walk back to their room, but not before a soldier and Jess stopped them.

"Is there a reason you're blocking the hallway?" Austin asked flatly

"Yea there is. We recovered some of your personal items from your house after it was attacked."

"Really?! Where is it? Did you save Delilah? Tell me you rescued Delilah!"

"Calm down, we saved 'Delilah'. Jess said rolling her eyes.

"She is in the hangar with the rest of your stuff."

"Who is Delilah? Is that someone he rescued or something?" Spyro asked

"Not hardly. Delilah is his motorcycle."

"Thank god!" He ran off in the direction of the hangar, followed closely by Spyro and Flame. When they came to the hangar, a jet black, shiny street bike sat in front of them. Austin immediately hugged it and said

"They didn't hurt you did they?"

Spyro and Flame both looked at each other, puzzled.

"I'm going out for a ride. I'll be back whenever!" he said starting it up and zooming out of the hangar and into the surrounding area.

"Well…that was weird." Spyro said.

"Yea…he has wings, why would he want to use that dangerous looking thing to get around?" Flame answered

"Oh well, that's humans for ya I guess."

They walked back to their mates rooms to continue what they started the night before.

**sorry it took so long to update. lots of stuff goin on. **


	11. Chapter 11 The Eclipse Offensive

CHAPTER 11- THE ECLIPSE OFFENSIVE

The next few days passed without incident. Austin was in meetings with his advisors and strategists most of the day, almost every day planning something he and Jess referred to as the eclipse offensive. This meant that the rest of them were bored out of their minds.

This day, Austin called Ember, Spyro, Snow and Flame into their room.

"Guys…you have all been by my side since I was pulled in that portal with Spyro. You have Ember back, and I don't think there is any reason for you guys to stay in this realm any longer."

"What are you saying?" Flame asked

"I'm giving you a chance to go back to your realm, and not risk any more harm. I won't hold it against you if you want to leave."

There was silence in the room, and then Flame spoke up

"I'm not leaving. I'm in this to the end. I owe you my life…this is the least I can do."

"I'm staying if flame stays. And you saved my life too." Snow said grabbing his hand.

"Spyro? Your decision. Stay, or go?"

Spyro actually had to think about refusing this fight.

'I don't want to lose Ember again, but she's going to follow me no matter what. Austin could have killed me when I was spying on him, and he had every right to, but he forgave me. According to Crozier, he brutally killed any spy he came across. Guess I owe him as well.' He thought

"I'll stay. We're in this together."

"If Spyro stays, then I do too. We all owe you our lives." Ember said.

"Then it's settled, everyone stays. Its gonna be up to us to breach the D.C. palace defenses, find and kill Crozier and Serevus."

"What about the Sorcerer?" Snow asked

"Him too, but only if you see him. Now we need to train you guys on how to fight human style."

With that, they departed into the training area outside, where Austin trained them all to recognize grenades, mines, booby traps, and other kinds of black September tricks. They were trained in the way to fire human weapons of all kinds. Surprisingly, Ember was the best shot out of all of them, excluding Austin of course.

"You all just got beat by a girl! How does that taste?" Ember bragged

"The solar eclipse will take place four days from today. We need to get some rest." Austin said.

He watched the dragons walk back toward the hatch back into the base with their respective mates. He soon joined them in the hatch and down to base. They all went down to their rooms. Austin, Flame, and Spyro slept in their room, too tired to…'visit' their mates room. They slept until morning, not waking up before the sun, for once.

"What are we doing today?" Flame asked

"Nothing. Ain't it great?" Austin replied

"What? Why not?"

"Because you know everything I do. Now all we have to do chill until the eclipse. What have you guys been doing while I was planning this?"

"Nothing. Exactly what were about to do more of…" Spyro said sadly

"Sure we had some fun with our mates, but they don't have the drive that males do…" Flame said equally as sad.

"I hear that." Austin said.

"Hmm…there has got to be something fun to do around here…"

"Wait a second! I got an idea! Remember those training weapons we used yesterday?"

"The ones that shot little balls filled with paint?" Spyro asked

"Yea! Let's have some fun with those!"

"How? Black September is shelling the surface again." Flame added.

"That's where it gets fun. We do it inside. Interested?"

Spyro didn't need to think about it for more than a second.

"I'm in!"

"Flame? Come on…you know you want to." Spyro teased.

"Ok…but will we get in trouble?"

"Of course not! I'm the leader of this whole armed resistance; you'd be surprised what I can get away with!"

They walked to the arms room and grabbed the guns off the rack.

"Gentlemen. Let the games begin."

"What do we do first?" Spyro asked

"I happen to have an intimate knowledge of the ventilation system here, and all the ducts are easily big enough for the three of us. Can you do the math?"

"Sniping unsuspecting soldiers?" Flame asked

"Bingo. To the vents!"

The mischievous trio climbed into the vents and ducts, allowing their repressed inner child to run wild. They shot people and laughed at their reactions for a while before climbing down.

"Well that burned a few hours. Now what?" Spyro asked

"Where have you guys been?" Jess asked, flanked by Ember and Snow. Their expressions were not of amusement.

"In the ventilation system shooting people. Why?" Austin answered

"Come on, we have things to take care of. Large scale attacks don't plan themselves." Jess said aggressively grabbing Austin's arm and pulling him down the hallway.

"See you guys later!" he called as he rounded the corner.

"Spyro…I want to talk to you in my room" Ember said.

Spyro took ember to her room and shut the door, leaving just Flame and Snow in the empty hallway.

"Let's take a walk." Snow said gently grabbing Flames hand and pulling him along.

"Spyro…the attack is tomorrow and…I'm…well…scared." What if you get hurt? Flame already been shot and Snows been hurt too. What if you're next?"

He knew where Ember was coming from, he had actually been beaten severely while in that cave with Crozier, but he decided not to tell her about that, fearing she would just worry more.

"Ember…I'm Spyro! I've been threatened with death so many times it doesn't even phase me anymore." Although he didn't mean it, his arrogant nature was once again showing itself, reminding Ember of the side of Spyro that she didn't like.

"It's not about you!" she said, a subtle anger in her tone.

"If it's not about me, than why am I here? Wait, that came out wro-"

"No it came out perfectly! Is that all you ever think about? How good you are? How many times you saved the defenseless realms?" her voice rising in an angry tone.

"Excuse me for saving all of you from total destruction!" Spyro yelled back, not wanting to back down from a fight, even if it was with his mate. Being held up in this underground base was getting to both of them.

"This is exactly why it took me so long to pick between you and Flame! What if our children don't live up to your 'standards'? Are you just going to cast them out as weak? Will you not love them if they weren't great fighters?! Or, gods forbid you have a female! What would you do then, oh mighty warrior?" her anger and sarcasm at its highest point.

Spyro was still stuck on the fourth word of her rant.

"Wait…why did you say children? You want kids? Now?" Spyro said backing down from the argument.

"No I don't, but it doesn't matter what I want because it's happening anyway!" she said, surprising even herself at how loud she said it.

There was dead silence in their room. Spyro just sat there and stared into the wall.

"Are…are you sure…you're…"

"Pregnant? Not exactly…but if certain 'things' don't happen on schedule, then I am."

Spyro was still in shock. He wasn't ready to be a father. He wasn't ready to be tied down yet, not by children at least.

"How? I thought females controlled weather or not that happened."

"Well…I…may have forgotten to do…the things I should have…" she said, guilt in her voice.

"Its ok Ember…but when will we know for sure?"

"By tomorrow night. I'm sorry for yelling Spyro…"

There was silence once more.

"Whatever happens…I'll still love you. Weather you're pregnant or not."

"I know Spyro…I love you too." They simply lay together on the bed talking about the future.

"If we did have children…what would you name them?" Spyro asked

"I don't know…I hadn't thought about it till now. How sad is that?"

Spyro chuckled softly

"I really hope you aren't pregnant."

"Why? Wouldn't it be fun to raise a little you or me?"

"Yea, for about two weeks. I want to have children with you Ember. I really do, but not now…we're still so young…and…I don't think I'm ready to be a father." Spyro admitted. It was hard for him to admit he wasn't ready for something. To him, it was like admitting defeat before even trying.

"Oh I _know_ you aren't ready for that. You, Flame, and Austin are possibly the most childish bunch of males I can think of right off hand. Gods forbid any of you have a child now. I think Flame would be the most prepared for fatherhood out of the three of you. That's not saying much is it?" Ember teased

"Oooohhhh…well while you and Flame where flirting back in avalar, I was fighting evil in the worst places imaginable. I have a childhood to catch up on, thank you." Spyro said back in a joking, but serious tone.

"I don't care if he is…I'm just glad I have you…" Ember said

"Do you have any idea how many females would have given their wings and tail to be my mate? I'll give you a second to think about just how lucky you truly are." Spyro said as arrogant as he possibly could, holding back laughter the whole time.

"You're gonna pay for that…" Ember said as she kissed him, allowing herself to be pinned in a familiar position.

"Are you going to remember to do what you should have last time?" Spyro asked

"Yea…let's go big boy." Spyro grinned as he did what he did best… besides combat.

By this time, Flame and Snow had walked around the entire complex, well, the complex that wasn't off limits, talking about whatever crossed their mind.

They had completed one whole lap around the base.

"I'm getting tired…I'll be back in my room if you need me." Snow said releasing his hand for the first time in hours.

"Ok. I'll be around." Flame said, admiring her as she walked away.

Flames boredom was at its peak, he hadn't done anything of interest since yesterday.

"It's so boring around here!" he said to himself. Then he remembered the scale from the canyon.

'Hmm…they stopped shelling the surface…I think I'll go find some soldiers to kill. And if I get into trouble, I'll use the scale.' His mind made up, he set out for the hatch leading to the hellish surface of a destroyed section of city.

Flame opened the hatch and was greeted by the same violating stench as before. He paused as he got used to it, then proceeded out of the base.

"Ok…let's find some scum." He said to himself. He walked down street after street before finding a group of about five of them, sitting around on a few burned out cars, smoke coming out of their mouths while they held small white sticks with a glow at one end.(cigarettes. I don't know if my rambling description got it across or not)

"Since when do humans breathe fire? No matter, let's see what this thing can do."

Flame pulled off a scale on his arm, biting his bottom lip to keep from making noise.

He placed the purple mechanical scale on his arm and felt it attach to his muscle fibers.

Almost immediately, anger entered his mind, thoughts of those who have wronged him over the years, how he had always had to deal with the females throwing themselves at Spyro while barely noticing him. All this balled up rage was released in one, loud roar.

Flame could feel the toxin flowing through him. The rage was immensely satisfying and he felt their bullets bounce off him. His Flame breath seemed supercharged as he unleashed a 70 foot stream of white fire that engulfed the humans, but not before a loud alarm was sounded. More black September soldiers seemed to come out of the woodwork. Armored personnel carriers, (APC) main battle tanks and attack helicopters surrounded him. He welcomed the challenge as his fury built with every passing second.

With a newfound strength, he stopped a charging APC, lifted the several ton vehicles completely over his head, and threw it at the hovering attack helicopter, hitting it, causing a storm of flaming metal to rain down on the soldiers below, killing even more. He roared triumphantly

"WHO CAN STAND AGAINST ME NOW?! NOT EVEN SPYRO IS THIS POWERFUL! AHHH HAHAHA! I CANNOT BE STOPPED!" he said, his judgment clouded by the powerful toxin.

Austin was finally released from his tactical meeting for today, so he tried to find his friends.

"Where the hell is everybody?" he asked himself as he checked their rooms. A resistance soldier ran to Austin, snapped a nervous solute, not having ever addressed the leader of the movement before.

"At ease soldier. Whats the good word?"

"Nothing good sir! The red dragon you are friends with is outside the base, fighting a whole division of the army of the sun!"

"Shit! Get some tranq guns ready to go, we need to get him back in here!"

"Yes sir!" the soldier ran off down the hallway as quickly as he appeared.

Austin ran to embers room, the last one he hadn't checked.

"Spyro! Ember!" he tried to open the door, but they had locked it.

'I do not have time for this!' he thought as he lowered his shoulder and charged through the door, exploding into the room to find Spyro and Ember on top of each other.

"AUSTIN! Ever heard of knocking?!" Ember said surprised and embarrassed.

"We all know what you guys do, it's no surprise sweetheart."

"I wonder how he knew that. Spyro." She said, glaring at Spyro.

"Was it supposed to be a secret? Oww!" Ember hit the back of Spyros head with her tail.

"No time for arguing! Flame is outside the base about to get killed!" Austin said. His words stirring them into action, they ran to the hatch where jess handed Austin a tranquilizer gun.

"He's gone crazy. It looks like the work of SRX-45D. Its gonna take a lot to bring him down. Don't get killed ok?" Austin kissed her and said

"of course not. Remember who you're talking to."

The three climbed to the surface and followed the sound of gunfire and crunching metal to what used to be Flame. What they saw was a dragon of the darkest red color, his muscle mass had increased almost three times its original size. It was safe to say that he was twice the size of an adult dragon. His rage was now in total control and he smashed or killed anything that moved, evil or good.

"Flame! Stop this! You could get killed!" Ember yelled as loud as she could.

"Talking won't do any good! We have to knock him out!" Austin yelled over the chaos.

He raised his tranquilizer gun, and fired. Reloaded, and then fired again, and again, and again, and again.

"How much can one dragon take?!" Austin said, reloading for another shot.

"Wait! I think its working!" Spyro said, watching Flame wobble around, then fall backwards toward them, out cold.

Austin looked for the purple scale on Flames arm. He found it, and ripped it off.

"Spyro! Hook me up with some fire!" he said as he threw the small device in front of him, and Spyro torched it to a crisp.

After it had been removed, Flame began to shrink back to his original size, as the army of the sun advanced on his position.

"Keep the hatch open, I'm going to get Flame!" Spyro yelled as he dashed across the battle field toward his fallen friend.

Spyro used all of his strength and lifted Flame off the ground, and started on a mad dash toward the base entrance. Diving into the base hangar and dropping Flame next to him.

"MEDIC! GET A MEDIC OUT HERE NOW!" Austin yelled as trauma teams rushed to Flame with a stretcher, and whisked him away to the hospital wing.

"You were right jess. SRX-45D all right." Austin said as Snow walked up behind them.

"Whats going on?" she asked

"Where have you been? I was looking everywhere for you! Anyway, you seem confused, so I'll spin it for ya quick, Flame put the scale we took off Spyro at the canyon, on and started killing people. We knocked him out and here we are."

"Is he okay?!" she said panicked.

"He's in the hospital but I don't know how much of that stuff is in him. Only way to know is to ask." They all walked to the injury ward and found Flames room. The base chief of medicine, Dr. Kelso was examining his charts.

"How is he Dr. Kelso?"

"The prognosis isn't good I'm afraid…he has more toxin in his system than anyone I have ever seen. This amount of SRX-45D would've killed a human. All we can do is wait, and hope."

"Will he be better by the solar eclipse?" Austin asked

"Maybe, maybe not…right now, it's too soon to tell."

"Thanks Dr." Snow said

Dr. Kelso left the room and left them alone with nothing but the familiar sound of a heart rate monitor, beeping, rhythmically.

The field medic, Dr. Cox entered the room, pushing a cart with three large needles on them.

"Whats with the cart doc?" Austin asked sitting down in the chair beside Flames bed.

"This is as good a time as any." Dr. Cox said donning a latex glove and readying a needle.

"Let's get started. Who's first?" he asked

"First for what? What are those for?" Spyro asked nervously.

"We need blood cultures from you guys so we can grow more incase you get hurt. Sadly, we don't have any dragon blood in the freezer."

"Spyro, you're the hero, you go first." Austin said

"You go first!" Spyro snapped back, getting more nervous as he looked at the large syringes.

"They already have human blood here. I don't gotta!" he said smugly

"There is no way you are touching me with that. No way at all. Nope. "

"Spyro! You're afraid of a needle and you call yourself a hero? Ha." Embers mocking still didn't move him, so she tried a different approach.

"Do it or you won't get any for a month."

"That's not even fair." Spyro complained as he held out his arm and shut his eyes.

He felt Doctor Cox sterilize the area, then he heard something he didn't expect.

"All done." Austin said

"Really? I didn't feel a thing." Spyro said.

"Just kidding!" Austin said barely containing his laughter.

Spyro watched as the large needle buried itself between his scales.

Spyro let out a yelp that could have awakened the dead.

"Geez Spyro! It wasn't that bad!" Dr. Cox said putting the syringe filled with blood back on the cart.

"Ok…next!"

The female dragons got their blood taken without incident and Dr. Cox went back the lab.

"That was not cool Austin." Spyro said glaring at him.

"Come on Spyro…it was funny and you know it! Who knew you were afraid of needles?"

"It _was_ only me. Now everyone does! Thanks." Spyro said still rubbing his arm.

"Ok I'm sorry buddy. That was messed up of me. Go ahead and take a swing right here." Austin said lifting up his shirt and pointing at his abs.

Spyro reared back and let one go right in his gut, knocking the wind out of him.

"Nice…one…" he chocked as he gasped for breath.

They left flames room and went back to their own respective rooms for the night, except for Snow, who stayed by Flames side, like he had for her, sleeping soundly throughout the night.

The next morning they all awoke on schedule, today was the day of reckoning for the resistance, the do or die for the whole movement. Austin gathered all of his friends in flames room. He was now fully recovered and the toxin in his system was at minimal levels.

"Ok…time for me to tell you what the plan is for the eclipse offensive. Sorry I've been keeping you in the dark, but they wouldn't allow me to explain until the day of the attack."

Austin took a deep breath and continued

"Black September views any solar event as having some kind of hidden meaning. Thus, the upcoming total solar eclipse is kind of like a holiday to them. According to their "commandments" no electricity can be used unless it was obtained from the sun, therefore, since all their stuff is solar powered-"

"All their defenses will be knocked out." Spyro completed

"Exactly."

"Are they really that stupid as to have all their power from the sun? What if it's cloudy or something?" Ember asked

"The generals have found a loophole in their commandment, by claiming that the sun is responsible for all forms of power, any can be used. 90 percent of their power plants are solar, but the backup power they're gonna use during the eclipse needs to be shut down. If we can cut their power, getting in to the fortress will be a whole lot easier. All of the troops in this base will be fighting the army of the sun while we get into the palace, kill Crozier and serevus, and plant a bomb in the basement. Resistance groups in all major cities in the western hemisphere are all going to attack when we do. If this works, then all we have after that will be the eastern hemisphere. Our sabotage teams will set charges at one power plant, taking it out, forcing the other plants to bear extra load in its absence, then they fall like dominoes. Any questions?"

"How will killing two people stop all those troops?" Flame asked

"Glad you asked. Black September trains all personnel to take orders from the person above them. They aren't allowed to make their own decisions unless directed by their superior. When we kill the superior, the commanders in the field will be paralyzed. Any others?"

"Good. Lets get suited up, the eclipse is in two hours."

**Sorry it took longer than normal to update! there ya go. next chapter: the end begins. **


	12. Chapter 12 The End Begins

CHAPTER 12- THE END BEGINS.

**sorry this took forever! here we go...**

They left the conference room and all went back to their rooms to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle.

Spyro's pre battle routine was superstitious and set in stone, having done it many times before. It consisted of mainly of asking the ancestors for guidance and protection and meditating for a little while. He wasn't too crazy about sitting around and breathing with his eyes closed, but it did focus him and calm him down before a fight.

Flame had never been in a major battle until meeting Austin, so he had no idea what to do, so he spent time with Snow.

Austin's pre fight warm up was mainly three things; stretching out, listening to music to get him psyched up, anything from hardcore metal to gangster rap. The third was time spent with Jessica. He might die within the next few hours, so he decided to make his possible final hours alive, worth while.

Spyro entered their room after meditating on the roof to find Austin with wires in his ears and a device the size of a credit card on the table. He had a controller of some kind in his hand that moved the images on the plasma screen in front of him.

"What is going on here?" he asked

Austin paused the game and his music.

"This is my music, and this is called 'operation boneyard 2'. Quite possibly the most fun you can have without killing real people." He said pointing to his headphones and to the TV.

"Is this how you get ready for a major battle?" Spyro asked skeptically, sitting in the chair beside him.

"Nothing gets you in the killing mindset like gangster rap and animated violence. Damnit!"

"Looks like you died. You sure you're ready to fight?" Spyro joked.

"Aight hot shot. You give it a try." He tossed the controller to Spyro.

"ok…'A' is shoot, 'B' is grenades and 'X' is jump."

The thoughts of the upcoming operation faded as all Spyro was concentrated on was the high score, and the bastard launching mortars on his men.

Flame came in the room and saw spyro glued to the screen and Austin watching.

"Hey Flame. Where you been?" Austin asked

"With Snow."

"Oooooohhhhhhh…ok" Austin and Spyro looked at each other and thought the exact same thing.

"We weren't doing that!" Flame snapped

"Sure you weren't. And I'm actually green, not purple." Spyro mocked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Calm down Flame, you should be proud of getting it that much. Seriously, if I could find a human girl who does that as much as snow, I'd be set!" Austin said and he and Spyro laughed and high-fived.  
"Well played Austin." Spyro added.

"How are you two not nervous about whats going to happen in a few hours?" he asked, ignoring their previous comments.

"I've fought enough battles to not have the butterflies in my stomach I used to have." Spyro said.

"Same here" Austin added taking his headphones out of his ears.

"I am nervous as hell!" Flame said as he paced the room.

"Just breathe, and try to take your mind off it."

Flame tried but was still stressed about the fact that he could die or worse, Snow would get hurt.

He left the room leaving just Spyro and Austin.

Spyro dropped the controller and put one hand over his eyes.

"Damnit…"

"Its ok Spyro, it's just a game."

"It's not that Austin…if I tell you this; you have to promise you won't tell a soul. Not even ember. Ok?"

"Sure bro, you can trust me."

"I think…ember may be pregnant."

Austin was taken aback by this, and wasn't sure what to say

"Spyro…um…I…I don't know…are you sure?"

"She said she would know by the end of the day. I'm not ready for kids!"

"Does Flame know?"

"No."

"Why tell me? Haven't you known flame for longer?"

"Yea, and I would have, but he left. He would probably flip about it."

"Oh. I got it." Austin said as he checked his watch.

"Its time Spyro. Round up Flame, Snow and Ember. It's H-hour."

"Ok. Let's do this."  
They turned off the game and left the room. Once the two of them had gathered the others, they regrouped in the arms room.  
Austin put on his bullet proof vest and grabbed two ak47's and strapped them on his back, as well as two 9mm pistols and an extra combat knife.

"Got enough weapons?" Snow asked sarcastically

"There is no such thing as too much fire power. Those are words to live by."

Austin gave the others specially fitted flak vests that had holes cut to accommodate their wings. He gave them each an ak47 and a 9mm with as much ammo as each could carry.

"Ok, everybody looking sharp in their flak vests…lets get to the hatch, the eclipse is in 30 minutes."

They walked in silence to the surface hatch. Each of them lost in their own pre battle thoughts.

'Aw man…this is it…it ends today…aww I feel sick…' Flame thought

They climbed out of a secret hatch to the surface and gazed up as the moon slowly began to move across the face of the sun.  
"No time to gawk! Let's go! Keep your heads down and for the love of god, be as quiet as possible."

They went from rubble pile to rubble pile, until they reached the power plant where they met up with the sabotage team.  
"Ok. These guys are on their way in, and we should hear their bombs go off about…"

One explosion shook the ground, followed by another, then another. The buildings collapsed and the power to the whole city went down.  
"This is it! Let's get in that palace!" Austin shouted as they ran past the outside fence, shooting like mad as they went.

They came upon the outer wall of the palace.  
"Spyro I need those charges!"

"I thought you had them!"

"Are you shitting me?! We left without the explosives?!"

"Apparently! What the hell do we do now?!" Flame asked.

"we're getting in here one way or another!"

Austin reared back and punched the wall as hard as he could, putting a hole just big enough for all of them to get through.

"Even with a robotic arm that hurt like hell!" he said entering the darkened hallway.

"Now where?" Ember asked.

"Hmm…according to Intel, this place is HUGE. This may take a while…no telling where Serevus or Crozier are…"

They set off down the hallway and came upon a steel blast door with the words  
'Sector 4-A' on it.

"If I remember right, this is the lab sector, so we may encounter some things that might…well…scare you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've heard rumors of genetic experiments…and the scientists here aren't very good at it…so just keep your eyes open."

They forced the door open and proceeded inside.

They passed lab after lab until something caught Snows eye.

"What was that? Did you guys see that?"

"What?" Flame asked

"I saw a flash come from in here…" Snow entered the lab and the lights came on automatically.

"I thought all the power was out?" Flame said, following the others inside.

"What do we have here?" Austin said as he examined a human sized tube filled with dense blue liquid that seemed to be glowing.

He began tapping on it, then without warning, it shattered, sweeping Austin off his feet and covering him and Spyro with the fluid.

"What is this stuff?" Spyro said trying to brush it off, but to no avail.

"I don't know…ugh this does not feel right at all…"

"Hey wasn't there something in that tube earlier?" Ember asked, noticing that nothing was in it anymore.

"Yeah there…was…"

Then suddenly the creature flung itself out of a dark corner, and its claws missed Flame's neck by inches.

It landed in the center of the room.  
It stood about 5'3 and was grey in complexion and had long yellow claws and teeth, as well as glowing green eyes.

"What the hell is that?!" Flame said reaching for his gun.  
"Who cares! Just kill it!" Austin said

All of them began firing wildly at the creature and it was dodging every bullet they threw at it.

"Damn this thing is quick!" Spyro said as he continued to fire at it.

Austin put his AK away and deployed his blade.

"I'm tired of wasting my ammo on this thing…"

He followed the beast with his eyes while it raced around the bullet riddled room, then he jumped in the path he predicted it would be, and stabbed it right into where he assumed its heart was.

It let out a loud cry as it tried to slash at Austin from the end of his blade, then slowly the life left its green eyes and he dropped the creature into a pool of its own green blood.  
"Yea…just keep a look out for stuff like this." He said cleaning his blade and grinning slightly.

"I think you enjoyed that a little too much." Ember said as they left the lab.

They walked and walked until they came upon a sign on the wall that read 'upper command, swamp room' with an arrow pointing left.

"What is a swamp room?" Snow asked

"I don't know, but it doesn't sound like fun…" they passed through the door to the swamp room and the door slammed shut behind them.

"Well that was nice of them." Spyro said reaching an arm out to feel if anything was in front of him; the room was pitch black…and wet, as the name implied.

Austin turned on his night vision, but saw nothing.

"Damn, I guess these need a little light to work…let's give infrared a shot…there we go!"

He looked back to see if everyone was here.

"Ok, you guys are looking nice and…red…lets go!"

They put a hand on each others shoulder as Austin lead the way through the dark, damp, indoor swamp.

"Why on earth would black September need an indoor swamp?" Flame said, stepping over the fallen logs and plants.

"No idea, all I know is that we're still in the experimental sector, so anything could be living in here."

They trekked through the knee high water when something brushed against Spyro's leg.

"What was that?!"

"What?"

Austin searched the water but saw no heat signatures in the water.

"I'm not seeing anything…"

Then Spyro felt a tentacle wrap firmly around his left leg, and pull him off his feet, sending his AK flying into the darkness.

"Spyro!" Ember said as he disappeared under the fog and water.

Flame drew his weapon and was about to fire when Austin stopped him

"Bad idea! You can't see anything! What if you hit Spyro?"

"Good point, but what do we do now?!"

Austin followed Spyro's heat signature and grabbed his arm as whatever it was that had him, pulled in the opposite direction.

"I gotcha Spyro! Flame get his other hand!" Austin said as he deployed his blade.

Where are you…bingo!" Austin cut the tentacle around his leg and freed him.

Spyro got up and coughed up some of the water he had swallowed while struggling with the sea monster.

"What…the…heck…was…that…" he coughed

Austin examined the piece of it he had cut off. He held it up so his systems could identify it.

SPECIES- UNKNOWN

BLOOD- UNKNOWN

ORIGINS- UNKNOWN

MATES- UNKNOWN

"Well, I got nothing; let's find a way out of here before it comes back."

They continue to wander through the enormous room, until coming to a wall with a rusted steel door that looked like it hasn't been opened in ages.

"I guess this is it…what do we have here…?" he noticed something he almost tripped over, it was the skull of a black September soldier. He picked it up, then tossed it behind him.

"Guess this really is the door…"

Austin hit it as hard as he could but to no avail. The door was rusted shut.

"So are we trapped in here?" Snow asked

"Not hardly sweetheart…" Austin said as his plasma cannon charged up, illuminating them in a blue light.

He fired into the door and blew it straight off the hinges.

"Quickly now, lets go before our friend the octopus gets back."

They left the swamp room and proceeded into an office like area.

"Hmm…lab 2-A…well we might as well check it out…" Spyro said opening the glass door, only to be blown through it and against the wall with a blinding ball of light.

"Spyro! Are you ok?" Flame asked, running to his side. Spyro's bullet proof vest saved him from the brunt of the impact, but it was torn to shreds and on fire in some places.

"When is everything going to stop attacking me?" Spyro asked as he lay on the floor

"When you stop opening random doors." Austin said as he checked him over.

"you'll be fine bro, now lets find out what that was…"

They entered lab 2-A and a steel door slammed shut behind them, and torches light by themselves, revealing a robed figure with a staff in hand.

"welcome back Spyro." The sorcerer sneered as he turned around to face them.

"ready to die?" he asked

Spyro barred his fangs, as did the rest of the dragons, and assumed a low fighting stance.

"are you?" he growled back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

again, sorry this took an eternity and a half. but there it is!


	13. Chapter 13 Revival

CHAPTER 13- REVIVAL

"You again? I don't know how you got away last time, but it won't happen again!" Austin said drawing both pistols and dropping his heavy automatic weapons.

"Last time, all you had to do was fight me. But you see, my ally general Crozier gave me a few bodyguards and well, quite frankly it would be rude not to use them don't you think?" the Sorcerer smiled as a door opened behind him and ten 8 foot tall super-soldiers, wearing gas masks attacked the lot of them. They each had two to fight off, and that was proving to be a challenge indeed.

Bullets just bounced off them, so Austin threw a punch that would have sent the average human flying. But these men just stood there. One grabbed his robotic arm and simply threw him hard into the stone wall of the room.

"Ok…punching doesn't work…and they are too quick for my plasma gun…" he said to himself as he looked at his friends trying to hold their own against the monster men.

The bodyguards had tubes running from small pack on their backs to various places on their bodies. Austin unplugged one of them and the liquid inside sprayed on the other ones. Austin grabbed a torch off the wall and threw it at the two men who were soaked in the liquid, and they were instantly set ablaze, flailing wildly.

"Guys! Use your flame breath on them!" Austin shouted.

They did so and the Sorcerer's bodyguards were quickly disposed of.

"Crozier said the undead soldiers were invulnerable!" he said nervously.

"Whats the matter? Not getting worried are we?" Flame asked smiling

"Not as worried as you should be!" he said as he shot a purple ball of energy at Spyro, who was quick enough to deflect it, towards Ember unfortunately. She caught it on the side of her chest and it sent her crashing into a wall, leaving a huge crack in it.

"Ember!!" Spyro said as he ran to her with Flame and Snow in tow. Austin looked back then focused on the enemy.

"I could imagine about 100 terrible ways to kill you. The only question is which one? Decisions, decisions…"

"You will join her!" he said as he fired a huge blue energy ball at Austin. But to the Sorcerer's horror, he simply caught it, let the momentum of the shot spin him around completely, then he shot it back at him, sending him to the ground and his staff into the air. Austin caught his staff and broke it in half.

The Sorcerer was severely wounded and was on his back, when Austin stood over him and began to speak.

"You know, when I first met Spyro, I told him I wasn't sure there was a god, but since that energy ball missed me and hit Ember, I feel like someone up there must like me." He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the Sorcerers head and began to talk more

"And a Shepard I shall be, for thee my Lord for thee. Power hath descended forth from thy hand, so my feet may carry out thy command, so I shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri, Et Fili, Spiritus Sancti."

Austin pulled the trigger and splattered the Sorcerer all over the floor.

He then ran over to ember and his medical systems analyzed her status.

SUBJECT – EMBER

CONDITION – CRITICAL

RECOMMENDED ACTION – NO PRACTICAL TREATMENT.

ORGAN FAILURE IMMENENT.

"Austin do something!!" Spyro said as he held up Embers head and looked into her half closed eyes.

"There's nothing I can do…I don't know how to treat magic…the professor didn't put that on me…" he said as her heart rate began to drop slowly, and then…came to a stop.

"I…Love you…Spyro…" she said as the life left her eyes.

"Oh god…Ember…please don't leave me…I love you…please…don't go…" he said as tears flowed down his face.

The love of his life…the mate he had always wanted…was stolen from him…and he felt like it was his fault.

"No…she can't…be dead…"

"I'm…sorry Spyro…but she's gone…" Austin put his hand on Spyro's shoulder.

Spyro couldn't bring himself to release his love…he held her close and whispered

"I will avenge you ember…I swear on my life."

At that moment, the door the soldiers came out of opened, beckoning them to enter.

"Save your tears. We need to go." Austin said

Then a thought occurred to him,

"Wait…Flame, didn't the Sorcerer say those were undead soldiers?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Well, if they were zombie soldiers, then they figured out some way to bring the dead to life didn't they?"

"Oooooohhhhhhh. So we need to find it-"

"And use it on Ember!" Snow completed

"Exactly! Get Ember and come on! We need to find the medical research wing."

They came upon a computer panel sticking out of the wall and Austin stopped and began typing on the keyboard.

"What are you doing?" Spyro asked setting down Ember.

"Hacking into the buildings main server…we need to get a map… and I'm gonna try and turn off some of the security…bingo! I'm in."

"How long is this gonna take?" Flame asked

"shouldn't be too long…blast doors open…cameras turned off…auto guns off…initiate total system shutdown…reactor core cooling turbines…deactivated!"

Austin picked up his half of Ember and said

"Ok, with the reactor fans turned off, we've got about two hours before the core goes critical."

"What does that mean?" Snow asked

"That means that if we aren't further than 3 miles away from this building, it wont matter weather we revive ember or not, because we will be nothing but radioactive powder."

They walked down hallways and corridors until they finally came upon the medical wing.

They entered a room with a huge ceiling and rows of seats, then a large machine with a bed at its center, and electrodes pointed at the bed.

"Ok…let's get her hooked up." Austin said as he looked at the diagram on the wall and tried to match the human parts with the dragon ones.

"Attach one here…here…right here…and the last one goes…oh…Spyro I'll let you get this one."

With all the electrodes in the right places, Austin began to power up the reviver.

"All we need is for the power levels to reach 100 percent, then we press the button, and with some luck, we get our Ember back…"

Just then, a huge explosion rocked the palace, and the power went out, triggering the emergency lights.

"What the hell?" Spyro said

"The reactor is offline…Damnit…stay here I'll be right back." Austin said running back to the computer terminal.

"Thank god for night vision." He said as he navigated the darkened hallways with his pistol drawn.

He got to the terminal and the screen was black.

"Shit…no backup generators? Ugh…lazy black September mother f-"

He saw a cable hanging loose from the terminal and got an idea.

He deployed his plasma cannon and touched it to the exposed wire and tried the trick that saved Flame.

The computer screen flickered back to life.

"Ok…now we're getting somewhere…"

"PROPHET!" a loud unseen voice boomed in the hallway, startling Austin.

"What!? Who are you?" he asked yelling at the roof

"I know you and those creatures are looking for me…but don't think I will be so easily found."

"Crozier you bastard! I will find you and kill you!"

"Fear not prophet, you will get your chance to fight me, but first you must face yourself."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Austin said but he caught a glimpse of something at the end off the hall.

He turned the lights back on and revealed that it was himself, standing at the end of the hallway…well, an exact copy of him.

"You cloned me? Very clever crozier."

Austin began to fight his clone, but they were evenly matched, as he expected. He fired at him with his remaining ammo and didn't hit him once.

"Just as fast as me…" he said

"Faster…" it said

"Clearly just as arrogant as me…good job crozier…" he said gasping for breath

"You are a worthy opponent prophet…but there is one thing I have that you don't…camouflage." He said as he became transparent and nearly invisible.

The clone dashed toward Austin and hit him hard into the computer panel, sending an electrical shock throughout him before he fell to the floor.

"Any last words prophet?" the clone asked pointing his 9mm at his head.

"Yeah…you may have camo…but there is one thing I have…that you don't.

"Really? And that is?"

Flame had watched the whole thing, and was waiting for his moment to intervene. He snuck up behind the clone with a pointed piece of scrap metal.

"Friends!" Flame roared.

The clone turned just in time to see Flame run the shard through its chest, and then threw it hard against the opposing wall.

"Thanks buddy…I guess we're even now huh?"

"Uh huh. Now come on, we got an Ember to revive."

Flame helped him up and they went back into the room where Snow and Spyro were waiting.

"Austin, what happened to you?" Spyro asked

"Fighting with myself."

"What?"

"I'll explain later, just get ready to press that button."

Spyro looked at his fallen mate and said softly

"Please…let this work…"


	14. Chapter 14 No Guts, No Glory

CHAPTER 14- NO GUTS, NO GLORY

The machine hummed to life as the energy meter on Spyro's screen slowly filled.

"Spyro, you have to hit that button as soon as it hits 100 and not a moment before!" Austin said over the noise.

Spyro nodded and kept count in his head.

'76…80…83…89…93…95…99…100!'

Spyro pressed the button and a blue shockwave threw him and Austin backwards and on top of each other.

Flame and Snow watched as the bolts of energy channeled life into Embers body. The machine shut itself down and smoke was rising off Ember, but then, she began to move.

"Ember! You're alive!" Spyro pushed Austin off him and ran to her side.

"Oh my god Ember…I thought I had lost you…please don't scare me like that…"

"I'm glad to see…you to Spyro…" then Spyro noticed a tear roll down Embers cheek.

"Whats wrong Ember? You are alive…back with us, I hope those are tears of joy." Spyro said concerned.

"Spyro…remember when I told you I wasn't sure I was pregnant? Well it turned out…I was…but…not anymore…" she began to sob and the others gathered around her.

Austin examined Ember with his medical systems.

SUBJECT- EMBER

CONDITION- STABLE

MATES- SPYRO

OFFSPRING……..NONE DETECTED.

"She's right Spyro…"

Spyro grabbed Embers hand and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm just glad I have you back…I love you Ember…"

They kissed for a good thirty seconds and were interrupted by the room shaking and dust falling from the ceiling.

"Uh…guys, that's the reactor…I'd say we have about an hour until it blows!"

"You can make out later! Lets get the hell out of here!" Flame said grabbing Snow and running for the door. They left the room just as the roof fell in on the machine where Ember was laying only moments before.

They followed Austin until they came to a large elevator.

They entered the elevator and headed up to the top floor, where Austin was sure to find Serevus and Crozier.

They reached the top floor and climbed the stairs to the roof, where they saw Crozier getting into a jet.

"Crozier!! Turn and fight you coward!" Austin yelled.

Crozier turned and said.

"You will not defeat me prophet. Ra will destroy you, and your friends. All you hold dear will be eliminated, and this realm, and theirs, shall be ours. Now, you die prophet."

Crozier chanted in an ancient language and three helicopters dropped about forty black September soldiers onto the rooftop.

"Goodbye prophet…may your end be prolonged and painful." He and Serevus climbed into the jet and flew off into the east.

"We all must fight now…Spyro, take Ember and Snow to these coordinates, Jessica is waiting there with medics for you guys." Austin said

"What about Flame?" Snow asked

"Flame, you're staying with me." Austin said

"What?" Flame and Spyro said in unison.

"You want to prove you can be as brave and courageous as Spyro don't you?"

"…yeah…" flame said quietly

" This is your chance. No guts no glory Flame, whats it gonna be?"

There was silence as he thought about it, and then the soldiers on the other side of the roof began firing on them.

"Ok, let's do it!" Flame said. Austin threw him a pistol and then drew both of his.

"There are about forty of them, what are we gonna do?" Flame asked

"We need to get creative…I got it…watch and learn."

Austin got a running start, jumped onto and air conditioning unit, then jumped off of it, and Flame watched in what seemed like slow motion, as Austin slowly spun in midair, shooting round after round into the crowd of soldiers, while dodging their bullets miraculously. He then spread his wings and dropped two grenades into the crowd. They detonated, sending pieces of the men flying off the rooftop of the palace. Austin then found cover on the other side of the roof and shouted

"Ok Flame, you're up!"

Austin had taken out about 18 of them, which meant Flame had the rest.

He stood up from his cover, and dropped his weapon, and put his hands up.

"Ok, you got me…I surrender." He said waiting for them to get closer.

A group of about ten of the remaining soldiers were in range, and he lit them up with his fire breath.

He wrapped his tail around one of the men's ak47 then grabbed two more with his hands, and began firing all three weapons, killing the remaining soldiers. He then met up with Austin.

"Wow Flame, three automatics? Nicely done."

"Thanks, I learn from the best."

A large explosion rocked the roof and reminded Austin of why they needed to leave.

"Uh oh, we only have 20 minutes until the reactor blows! We need to fly fast!" Austin said leaping from the rooftop, followed by Flame.

They flew at a blistering pace, trying desperately to escape the city limits before it was all destroyed. They followed the same route Spyro and the girls had taken.

They stopped on a wooded hilltop as soon as they were far enough away, and turned to watch the palace in the distance.

It began to glow in a blue light coming from all the windows. The light became so bright that it was impossible to look at directly. Then, a dome of energy erupted from the heart of the palace, and then exploded, without any sound. A shockwave could be seen racing toward them and when it reached, they heard the long awaited sound of the blast, which was deafening, followed by what could only be described as a punch in the chest from the shockwave, knocking them both unconscious.

They awoke in the medical tent set up on the outskirts of the city.

Austin got up and walked past his friends, which were still out cold, and up to Jessica.

"What our status?"

"Black September is in full retreat. Crozier and Serevus abandoned the entire western hemisphere…we are just taking all the prisoners now."

"Any ideas as to where they went?"

"Our last radar signatures indicate they landed in Beijing, China."

"Raise our flag, and get the word out for the other liberated countries to do the same. Now, we cannot be stopped. They will fall." Austin said smiling as he extended his wings and flew to a cliff overlooking the destroyed capital of the United States.

He was then quietly joined by Spyro.

They gazed at the rising moon as it cast its silvery glow over the rubble of the destroyed symbol of oppression that was the black September headquarters.

"Well, we did it…we beat black September." Spyro said moving beside Austin, but still looking out over the capital.

"That we did. I couldn't have done it without you guys…thanks. My realm and all that inhabit it owe you their lives."

"Think nothing of it Austin. After all I do this for a living." Spyro said with his trademark grin.

"Yeah ok."

"Didn't Crozier and Serevus escape?" Spyro asked

"Yes…yes they did. They fled to their last stronghold in the east. Looks like this war is far from over unfortunately…but, I will tackle the beast in the east when the time is right."

"_You_ will tackle the beast in the east? Don't you mean we?"

"Spyro, I owe you so much, are you trying to put me even further in your debt?" Austin joked.

"Yep. If we weren't a team before, we are now. We are in this together."

Austin looked over at him and seriousness was in his eyes.

"Ok. But that is a battle for another day… let's get back to the tent and see if any of the others are awake."

They flew back toward the tent and slept the rest of the night.

A deep sleep came easy, as the noises of far off battles…the gunshots, the explosions…all a somber lullaby that was strangely comforting for one reason mainly…it was the sound… of victory.


	15. Chapter 15 Epilogue

CHAPTER 15- EPILOGUE

"It has been a few months since Austin, Flame, Ember, Snow, and myself had defeated the evil that was black September. Driving them from the western hemisphere was a well deserved victory for us all. For now, Austin has put his advisors in command of his newly liberated country, while he decided he wanted to return to our realm for a little R&R. Not that I can blame him, saving an entire section of a planet takes a lot out of you! Ember…unfortunately…didn't have the children she was pregnant with, because of the brief time she had been killed…I cant help but wonder what it would have been like to be a father…but I think that her and I will have children when we are old enough to take care of them. After all, we're only 15! Flame and Snow are getting along well too. Hunter and Bianca invited all of us to stay at their beach cabin for a few weeks. Needless to say, we happily accepted. As of right now, we are all just relaxing…but we know that soon, Flame, Austin and I, will have to rejoin the fight. But that is far away, for now, all is well, and is as it should be."

A cliff overlooking all of dragon shores, including the cabin all of them were staying in.

A black hooded figure stood on the cliff, its long black full length robe blowing slightly in the sea breeze, its arms folded.

"You will pay for what you have done prophet. I swear on my life that I will destroy you."

The hooded figure pulled out a green crystal and opened a portal behind him.

"You and all your allies…will pay." It stepped through the portal and it closed in a flash of white light.

The war continues…

THE END.

**Thanks to everybody who reviewed and read! hope you guys had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. a special thanks to chris garcia, who gave me the most reviews! expect a sequel!**


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